I'm stripes!

Are you fascinated by conspiracy theories? I'm not usually, but this video is worth the ride. I've always sort of wondered what happened to the plane that (maybe) crashed into the Pentagon, but left no wreckage-- not that this video necessarily answers that question. Truth is slippery sometimes.

Today I must pack and move out of my room-- no rent money.

Last night, Scotty at CrimethInc. generously constructed the artwork for the Live and Suspicious! cd. It looks amazing, and unlike any of my other cds. Very professional... and funny, too.

And last, but not least, I received a letter yesterday, that I appreciated, regarding the Slippery Goodstuff hip hopera. Here it is:

hi, sandman.

i have been wanting to email you for a while now and let you know that your show of a few weeks ago at the roxy really made quite an impact on me, and i've been thinking about it ever since.

i have been dealing with an excruciating period of body image problems, as well as an eating disorder that i have only recently come to recognize for what it is--self-hatred and fear all wrapped up in unconsciousness and confusion. your show made me think and feel and laugh about these issues, and left me feeling a sense of relief that i am not the only one who goes through the convoluted and painful process of self-examination.

thank you for the incredible amount of work it must have taken to put that show together. i loved mount eerie and woelve, too, but it was your risk-taking and bombastic exposition that stayed with me and gave me some kind of peaceful feeling inside. every time that voice starts up in my head telling me how ugly i am, i think about your show and i can't help but smile.

thanks again.
e

After a couple cool weeks the temperature is up in the high 80's again. I think I'll be swimming real soon. Right now though I'm trying to put some time into completing the artwork for the Sandman Live and Suspicious! cd. What I really need to be doing, though, is packing and figuring out where I'm going to live starting September 1st. I'm two months behind paying rent and have nothing to offer for September, either. It makes me sad that I can't continue my residency here, but, fortunately my housemates are letting me sublet my room for three months in the hopes that I can come up with ample rent funds in the interim. Zardoz will take my place until then.

Yesterday was a long, good day. I drove Goose to the airport at 5 a.m. and then came home and napped. Then my housemate John married his lady, Diane, in our huge yard under the black walnut tree. It was a beautiful ceremony. Lenny dee jayed and played the best dub reggae I've ever heard. After that I drove to Portland for the hip hop show with Madgesdiq, who is truly a tower of power. He stands about 6'6" barefoot and has an almost biblical presence-- a black Moses, a dreadlocked Christ. Great words, great beats, nice guy.

As for me, the crowd appeared to love the songs. I always relax playing for predominantly black audiences because they give back so much energy (both positive and negative, sometimes). At one point the crowd started spontaneously chanting, "Go cowboy! Go cowboy! Go cowboy!," etc. I had a good time and earned $50. And then I drove back to Olympia and slept.

Tomorrow night (Saturday, which is actually today now) I play a show in Portland with a rapper named Madgesdiq. The venue is Mississippi Studios. Mississippi Studios is where I recorded a slew of songs for my 2005 release, last month before tour. I'll be playing there again next Saturday with Willie Wisely (who produced those songs), and the Mona Reels.

It's 2:02 a.m. and in about two hours I will be driving my good friend, Chris "Goose" Kirk, to the airport. He is moving to Colombia-- South America, to start a new life and be with his amor. His Colombian girlfriend looks like a "Victoria's Secret" model. In fact her name is Victoria! I'm not joking...

I will sleep now.

Here's another tour highlight. In Butte, MT, we found a discount store called Prospector's that sold Cliff Bars for ten cents. No tax, even! I also bought four disposable, telephoto cameras for $2 each.

Today has been a flurry of activities and errands. Tonight, though, I relax with Sydney, and hopefully Nima and Amanda as well. We may watch a movie or play board games. Sounds good to me.

I just remembered another highlight from the "Slippery Goodstuff" tour; an anonymous philanthropist left me, Shawn, and Jonah an envelope which contained a $50-bill and a note saying that the money was the "Spirit of the Fringe" prize!!! It was unofficial, but it lifted our ragged morales to the sky's ceiling. Another person gifted us with seven of her favorite cds, including the two most recent Modest Mouse albums.

Today is all about the business of raising money for the new Sandman Live and Suspicious cd. G.O.D. (aka Giles O'Dell who I think hates being called G.O.D.) just lent me $500! Thank G.O.D.! Now I have $ 1000 to go. G.O.D. is a generous S.O.B. That's about all the money he has...

Andras is doing his job for me. He's been trying to get my song "Suspicious" on Air America and Democracy Now! By the way, have you heard this song yet? If not, let me introduce you to the Pop Ghetto website. You can listen to "Suspicious" from there. It's a sample of the fully produced album-to-come that Willie Wisely will be working on over the next year. Most of my vocals are already recorded. "Suspicious" is the only completely finished song and will probably only be released on my new cd. It's the only song that's not live, but the topicality of it requires it to be released asap.

Here are the lyrics:

Suspicious

Your nice new car ain't so nice anymore
Your fender had a bender, now you're tender and sore
And you're a bad loser, so you started a war
But just a tad sooner than your dad did before

Chorus:
And that's suspicious (3x)
But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt-- one time.

But then I started thinking about election day
Two-thousand-zero-zero-zero, Y2K
How something smelled fishy like... fish filet!
And your brother and your mother, they had nothin' to say

Chorus:
It was suspicious (3x)
But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt-- two times.

Osama over here, Osama over there
Osama and your mama like to share their underwear
Osama on the prairie, Osama in your tuchus
Osama's whole family vacations with the Bushes

Chorus:
That's suspicious (2x)
Ain't that suspicious?
But I'll give you the benefit of the doubt-- some more times.

All around the world, from Spain to Bangkok
Americans are studied from Twain to Hancock
They give us mad props, 'cause they know we can rock
But the paradox is that our leader can't talk

Chorus:
That's suspicious-- I thought you went to Yale
Suspicious-- How come you didn't fail?
Suspicious-- I ain't sayin' you're dumb
That would be vicious-- I just wonder how come
You're so suspicious...
-----------------------

The words are simple enough; it's the music that makes this song a potential "pop" hit. It gets better with each listen I think. Willie is a maestro!
-----------------------

p.s. I had dinner with Sydney last night. Her four-year-old daughter, Mirin, calls me "Calvin" for some reason. She also called me "Pine Tree." I think both those names are probably more interesting than Chris, so I didn't really try to correct her.

The day just disappears somehow, sometimes. I'd meant to write a lot in here, but it's dinner-time now, and I have a date with sexy Sydney, and her daughters Zela and Mirin. And after that a house meeting. And then something else, as yet undecided...

Tomorrow then. However, I will briefly recount some tour highlights from the final week on the road with Moustaches:

1. The last three Slippery G. shows in Minneapolis were redemptive and enjoyable.
2. A lovely woman named Marianne, whom I met at a cafe, became my Minneapolis tour-guide for the final evening. She took me to an amazing honky tonk venue where old people dressed up in vintage Western attire (think Patsy Cline, George Jones, etc.) and two-stepped. The house band let me get up and belt out Johnny Cash's "Big River" and Ernest Tubb's "Thanks a Lot." The blue-haired swingers winked and swayed.
3. On the 16th I played a secret, surprise show for a young man's birthday party in Aberdeen, South Dakota. His place of work happened to be Democratic Senator Tom Daschle's office. Tom was gone, though, so in we crashed. I sang three songs and ate a slice of pizza.
4. On the 17th we visited my parents' and grandparents' in Killdeer, ND. My grandpa had just killed and skinned a rattlesnake. It was huge (12 rattles). Zardoz and Blandow were not in the mood to eat it, so my mom cooked some fish instead.
5. The show in Basin, MT, on the 18th, was great. My aunt Bryher fed us well. The venue is an ancient, haunted bordello; Zardoz and Blandow were way freaked out! They like being scared, though.
6. The Missoula show, on the 19th, with The Microphones and Woelv, was momentous. Phil brings huge, young audiences and we were priviliged to reap the financial benefits.
7. On the 20th, we visited my Grandma Herak in Polson, MT. It appears that she might have Parkinson's disease so I try to see her as much as possible. I love her.
8. The Spokane experience (later on the 20th) was the perfect finale. I sold about ten pillow cases! Jeremy Hadley is a peach for his constant help. We drove to Ellensburg after the show and slept in the Log Hog recording studio.

Now I must bid you good evening...

I've been a bad blogger. So busy with guests and house duties and trying to fund raise for my 6th CD!! This one is called Sandman Live and Suspicious! The goal is $1500 this week. If anyone out there can help out with the whole chunk, I will pay you it back plus generous interest by December. It's a twelve-song live album, except for the first track, which is a politically charged, highly produced pop song called "Suspicious."

I am back in Olympia. The tour is complete. It rained all day today and I liked it.

Our last three shows (Basin, Missoula, and Spokane) were amazing, and they boosted our morale significantly. Here's a write-up we got in The Spokesman-Review. It's one of my all-time favorites, mainly for the reason that my music gets compared to that of Tupac Shakur, Kool Keith, Eazy E, Ice-T, and even Sir Mix-a-Lot.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll get a chance to recollect the tour better.

Hola from Missoula. Tonight I play at the Roxy Theater with The Microphones/Mt. Eerie, & Woelv. Good times.

Our show in Basin last night was tremendous. I sold eight pillow cases!

I'll talk more later...

I'll try to recount the two days leading up to yesterday's hellacious Fringe Fest show:

Madison: Ivan Okay did a great job setting up our show, but I was only able to stand on stage in my Slippery G. outfit and give a brief synopsis. Moustaches and Ivan's side-project, Koed, performed brilliantly, though, and saved the evening. We all spent the night at my friend Ben's house. He made us a delicious pancake breakfast in the morning. My nose went through two rolls of toilet paper.

Winona: I spent $250 at the hospital trying to get healed. For some reason they rushed me into the emergency ward, and that's why I spent so much. All for a miserable cold and laryngitis!! My goal was to get some antibiotics, but it turned out to be viral which doesn't call for antiobiotics, but rather lots of rest. Sooo, I cancelled the two Winona shows. Again the Moustaches carried the load. The crowd made a really sweet get well card for me. I stayed in Alex's parent's basement. Ron and Diane fed and cooked for me. My friend Kari brought over a bunch of nutricious ingredients and a movie (Starsky and Hutch). I'm lucky to have such caring friends in Winona. We left Winona at two in the morning and drove to Minneapolis.

Minneapolis: Jonah and Shawn dropped me off with my friend Emily who is a healer. I awoke at 10 a.m. to a barrage of teas and tinctures. Then she took me to her office and spent 45-minutes working my body over. By 3 p.m. she dropped me off at Julia's and the fellas and I drove to the theater to perform our ill-fated second showing of A Year in the Life of Slippery Goodstuff. After the show I was coughing violently and felt so fatigued that I slept until this morning. The coughs remain, as do the feelings of humiliation from botching our show.

A big reason I feel so horrible about our bad outing is that the critics really slammed our first show and I wanted to excel and prove them wrong. Instead, we just lived up to (perhaps exceeded) the foul reviews. I sure hope I get healthy by Friday.

p.s. remind me to never read reviews again!!! They only undermine confidence and enthusiasm.

Woe is me-- I had to cancel my last three shows due to laryngitis. My goal was to rest and then rock the Fringe Fest show yesterday. However, due to my weakened state and semi-delirium the show was a complete bomb!!! Jonah and Shawn are also sick and they both fumbled a bit. We are all embarrassed beyond belief. I'll expound later.

I'm battling to not lose my voice. Drats. We're in Madison tonight. Last night's show in Milwaukee was not what I'd planned. It's a long story, but we chose not to play at the house we were scheduled for. Instead, I met up with the friends who came to see me (and their friends) and we hiked up to this hill to a reservoir overlooking the city and I played there. It was a pleasant experience. A woman named Ebie let us crash on her sofas.

By the way, Moustaches-- who I'm touring with are a spin-off of the hip hop band Log Hog. Everyone associated with Log Hog is incredible. Check out their website.

Greetings from Milwaukee! The show last night in Chicago went okay. Only made $7, though. We couldn't afford a hotel so we slept in the grass outside a Wisconsin information center.

Our first Slippery Goodstuff show in Minneapolis went well, and most of the crowd seemed to enjoy themselves. However, Shawn just did a web-search and found a review of the show from a big-time local theater critic who detested it. In fact, he hated it so much that I can't help feeling slightly proud of the impression it had on him. He went so far to say "it stakes a mighty claim to the title 'Worst Show in the Fringe'". He compared us to the Beastie Boys and Tenacious D. What an a**hole! I hate those bands. ; )

Tonight we play a house-show here. Tomorrow Madison. I have a cold, though, and might have to play a short set tonight to protect my raspy voice.

All's well in St. Paul today, where I'm at Concordia College using their computer. Last night our Slippery Goodstuff preview showcase went great! I bought a leopard-print thong, and some accidental nudity happened. We were warmly received.

On the road again...

We made it to Minneapolis! Both the Wolf Point and Bismarck shows went great. Sadly, I left my duffle bag full of clothes in the lobby of a hotel in Wolf Point, along with another bag of "Sandman" shirts.

Today we have tech rehearsal for A Year in the Life of Slippery Goodstuff, from 1-4, and then we do a seven-minute showcase for the public at 8 pm. Tomorrow's the first real show.

My goal today was to not stress out about the final hours before tour kick-off. So I decided to go rafting and swimming with my friend Sydney, which was awesome! But now I have come to realize that I really am not prepared at all. It may be an all-nighter for me with at least one trip to Kinko's... I'll sleep in the car.

This poem was sent to me this morning by my mom. I don't know who originally wrote it.

DESIDERATA

Go quietly amid the noise and haste
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with
all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others,
even to the dull and ignorant; they, too have their story.
Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others you may become bitter or vain,
for there will always be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.
Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of our time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery;
but let this not blind you to what virtue there is.
Be yourself.
Especially do not feign affection. neither be cynical about love,
for in the face of aridity and disenchantment,
it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune,
but do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline be gentle with yourself.
You are a child of the universe
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here,
and whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.
Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.
And whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life,
keep peace in your soul.
With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.

The only part I disagree with is "avoid loud and aggressive persons."

Unless, by loud & aggressive the poet means "deceitful & pre-emptive bombing-type."

Today was another busy one. I silk-screened about ninety pillow cases and ran a lot of errands. When I came home I was so hungry, and to my happy surprise my housemate Ann had cooked a dinner for many of her friends. She invited me to join, too. Ann, who is Japanese, cooked somen (wheat noodles w/ ice), shitake, eel, seaweed, egg, and shiso (Japanese basil). Her friend, Charmeela, who is Indian-American, made a stirfry w/ cumin and cayenne to name a few of the spices. Ann also invited my good friend Yuko, who's Japanese, as well. Ann and Yuko let us know that we should slurp the noodles loudly, which I did. We ate outside on our porch until the mosquitoes chased us back inside. It's been a good year for mosquitoes, blackberries, and walnuts. Ann's moving to Boston in two weeks; that's sad. But, that's why I tour all the time! I have two shows in Boston in October. The whole USA and Canada are becoming my backyard. Within five years I want to have friends around the world to visit.

It's a good life I live. But why am I filled with such self-loathing most of the time? My favorite thing to say to myself is, "You're a f*%#ing idiot." I say it about twenty times daily as a sort of anti self-affirmation-- an unnecessary mantra-- a flagellation of the soul. I don't enjoy this habit.

Check out the cover of this week's Pulse of the Twin Cities!!! Can you recognize which one is Slippery Goodstuff?

Today was intense! This morning Andras called me to let me know he wants Pop Ghetto to release a Sandman Live at Folk Alliance cd. He needs to have a thousand copies ready to distribute by Aug. 15th. I spent the first ten hours of today listening to all the tracks, choosing the songs and the song order, making notes about when to fade in and out, figuring out who to thank in the liner notes, etc. Normally this would be a week-long process, but I have too much to do in the next two days to prepare for the Slippery Goodstuff tour; for instance memorizing my lines for the play, silk-screening "Sandman" pillowcases, assembling cds, making new "You Can Do Anything" zines, and a lot more.

Ay Caramba!

Then, this evening Blandow, Zardoz, and myself performed the play in front of an audience! We invited a dozen friends who then gave us feedback. Everybody enjoyed it, but it's extremely evident that we have a long way to go yet. Obviously, memorizing the lines will make everything go smoother. Except for that, I was mostly pleased with our performance. Unfortunately, I twisted my ankle and tweaked my knee, a little, while dancing. I need an osteopath to fix my groin which in turn throws me off balance all the time, and, thus, causes other body parts pain. Mama mia!

Buenos noches.

p.s. Here are the songs for the new Sandman Live at Folk Alliance album--

1. All the Things I Done Wrong
2. Shenanigans *
3. Shell-shocked Man
4. Radio Works Fine *
5. Beer Pressure
6. Revolution Come *
(previously known as "Sand vs. Bush (The Senator Strikes Back)"
7. Laborer *
8. Scapegoat Song *
9. Beauty Myth *
(potentially followed by "Persian Den of Sin")
10. 319 JOE
11. White Line Highway *
12. Gorilla
13. Please, Louise
14. Ghost *
15. Imaginary World *
16. Saddle Bum/Tribute to "Rapper's Delight" *

* w/ Garf on drums

Note: most of these selections aren't on any of my previous cds, but many will probably get produced and included on the next one. It's good to have a document of how the "live" set sounds, though.

Oh, nothin'.

The fellas and I are right in the middle of learning the Slippery Goodstuff play. Acting is a challenge for me and I like it. We have all the props and costumes. Now we just have to ween ourselves from the scripts, and figure out how the lighting will work. The play's content is going to be good in that it will offend just about everyone equally. My mullet and mutton-chops are in effect. We're spending $200 on primo advertising in the Minneapolis weekly Pulse of the Twin Cities. All systems go. It'll be nonstop "Slippery" for the next four weeks.

Note: Small towns with young viewers will not get to see the complete play, but instead only the selections we deem appropriate.

Collective living follows me wherever I go. Take for instance the house where I've lived for the last two years. My five housemates and I buy our food collectively, pay our bills collectively, and do projects collectively. We just spent $10,000 that we've collectively saved up and, last week, had our house and garage painted green and red. We are now collectively cleaning out the basement so we can have more punk shows and parties. Ann just made a chicken dinner and we ate it under the canopy of our black walnut tree. Lenny made burritos for lunch. Kat is about to show reel-to-reel videos on our front porch and serve strawberry sour cream streusel cake to our guests. It's a shame that I'm always so behind on rent because I don't ever want to have to leave here. Having a community is good for my morale.

Another example is my relationship with Pop Ghetto. Their website is as yet unfinished, but you can get a glimpse of it here. Oops, that's not true... I guess it's not quite hooked up.

I've got one of those super-Summer-slammer headaches-- a mixture of dehydration and insomnia, from it being too hot to sleep.

I'm back in Olympia. The recording sessions with Willie went well, but there's still a lot of work we have to do to have our complete album. When it is done, though, it will be a heavy-hitter and radio friendly, methinks. Willie's got skills, no doubt.

Time for water and dreaming.

Greetings from Portland, Oregon.  I am in a fancy studio about to start recording a new album.  Garf is playing drums and the producer, Willie, and producer's helpers, Tony and Jason, are in the sound room listening to his tones.  I am pondering the idea of making this album something edgier than what I'd planned...  there is a vitality I'm after.  I want this to be the most political album I've released and I want to cut way back on the buffoonery.  My comedic and sex-injected live shows serve a purpose, but they also distract and deprecate.  The political raps that I want to record have elements of humor, but they also have a seriousness about them.  I think juxtaposing them with my acoustic, heart-scarred, working-stiff songs would communicate what I want to say right now.  The songs I'm thinking of will have an array of influences-- from Michael Moore to Eminem to Johnny Cash.  The challenge, for us in this studio, is to let them be their own thing. 

Urghhhh... I just somehow erased my last couple of posts!! Blogger switched its internal format this week and messed me up. I think everything's cool now.

I'm too busy to recapture the last three hectic days... but in brief, What-the-Heck-Fest rocked! I only wish I could've been there to watch the Saturday and Sunday performances of so many of my friends. I seriously love the Anacortes community spirit.

I may not get back on here until Monday as I've got my 6th cd to record, starting tomorrow in Portland, with Willie and Garf. Peece.

test...

If you've ever wondered what it looks like where my parent's live, this website has lots of photos from the surrounding area.  
 
Zardoz made this downloadable flyer for the Slippery Goodstuff/Moustaches tour.  If you're helping to set up a show for us, this will make your work easier.  Thanks.