do i have "GROUPIE" written on my forehead?

so i went to see drive-by truckers on saturday at the abbey pub at tim's suggestion. megan & i met @ tim's and drove down together, had dinner @ the pub and went to the show. i had listened to DBT's southern rock opera cds at tim's place earlier, and i was excited because it sounded like really awesome rock 'n' roll. sure enough, it was a totally rawkin' concert. the dudes had so much fun playing, and the crowd was just going wild. i love concerts where the crowd goes wild! like what's a rock concert if the crowd's a muted bunch of tennis match hand clappers, eh? if you're not there to rawk, then why waste your money & time & expose yourself to all that booze & smoke & sweat drenched atmosphere on a saturday evening when you could be at a nice airconditioned movie theatre?



after the DBT set, i was totally gonna buy the southern rock opera 2disc cd, so i went to the merch table. the merch dude for DBT was really nice (he's been touring w/ them as their sound guy too) and he noticed i'd taken pictures so he gave me a free copy of SRO in exchange for a promise that i'd email him some photos. so i got me a "three guitars or a life of crime" t-shirt instead. if you missed the show and you like good ol' southern rock (yes, there are 3 guitars involved) which i do, and some of you may not, but if you DO, then don't miss them when they come to the hideout on tuesday aug. 13th. pray for cool weather cuz that's gonna be a crowded show and you know how a/c in them venues get w/ all them bodies each emitting the equivalent of 100watt bulbs...



well, after the DBT, alejandro escovedo & his band were up. this was their 2nd nite at the abbey, and apparently the had sold out the previous nite, and this nite was pretty packed out too. i had never heard alejandro's music before although i'd heard of him. he was named artist of the decade by no depression mag, which is the alt-country mag named after the uncle tupelo song. i don't know how you can just pick one artist as the defining artist of such a large span of time, but alejandro definitely deserves more recognition than he currently gets in the larger market. this guy knows how to frickin' rock!! holy cowboy punk rawk, man! it was SOOOOOOOO AWESOME!!! i started out in the back of the room, where megan & i were chatting. and i actually ran into eric z., a really cool local musician-theatre dude i know through my friends jenn & john. he was hanging out near the a/c way in the back. as much as i wanted to stay cool, i was so drawn to the music that i slinked my way up to the front (stay low to the ground and you can usually make your way to the front no prob cuz there's more room down there where there aren't torsos & arms involved) and started taking photos.



what i loved about alejandro's music was that he could totally kick it and rock on w/ a song for a while, and then break into the most beautiful sad song you ever heard, and he even did this fun kid's song called the big 1-0 (the chorus goes like "i hit the big 1-0, i feel so old, and candy just doesn't taste as good any more!") which we all sang along to. you can tell that this guy just LOVES to play live. he played two encores, and the crowd would've let him play all night if he wanted to. they were that crazy about him. megan, who'd joined me up front by now, & i were totally digging the show and so high on the energy in that room. tim really came through for us suggesting we go to this show, although he was unable to make it himself.



so after the show, megan & i were standing by the stage chatting, and alejandro's guitar player comes up to us, shakes my hand and says, "hi! i'm alan. did you enjoy the show?" i was a little surprised, but megan & i chatted w/ him a while, and i guess he decided he wanted to hang out w/ us and convinced us to wait for him to get his gear loaded and go eat w/ him. so we took him to zorba's in greek town, since the band was staying in the loop @ the essex inn. it was pretty late, but we each had an omlette, and then we dropped him off at his hotel. he wanted to hang out the next day cuz the band was doing another gig and would be in town another night. so he hired me as his tour guide. unfortunately megan had to be in iowa the next day otherwise we would've all totally hung out. the next day, i went to church (yeah, after going to sleep at 6am...i was an hour late but i really wanted to go...) and hung out at the record stores & then @ powell's used books when alan the guitar player called me. so we didn't really have much time to see anything cuz the gig was an afternoon one @ the hideout, and we ended up just going for some deep dish pizza. steve the cellist & his 12year old son adrian ended up joining us, and then we caught up w/ andrew the bass player, got in the van, and i navigated to their gig.



the children's show was awesome! it was like 100000 degrees INSIDE the venue, and there were a million kids & their parents. that place was bursting at the seams, and folks actually got turned away at the door and were milling around outside. alejandro did some fun songs, including the big 1-0 song as well as a version of iggy pop's "i wanna be your dog" during which he had the kids barking up a storm. it was pretty hilarious.



after the show, the band guys decided to get together in one of the hotel suites & have a jam session. that was so awesome, cuz they did some classic neil young & bob dylan which is always totally cool. i love neil & bob! it was nice to just hang out and talk to the guys about life on the road. it's a hard life, but somebody's gotta do it, i guess. it was definitely a learning experience for me and gave me further insight into the whole rock 'n' roll lifestyle. it's definitely not all glam for most folks playing gig after gig town after town. made me really appreciate what these bands go through to play the music they love playing live for people.



stuff i've been listening to:

summerteeth--wilco (ok, i can't stop listening to this album. can somebody tell me why?)

moontraveler--aaron sprinkle

killing floor--VoL

murmur--r.e.m.

southern rock opera--drive-by truckers

nothing feels good--the promise ring

amelia's boot--erik brandt & the urban hillbilly quartet

straightaways--son volt

a.m.--wilco

summershine--VoL

s/t compilation--VoL

blonde on blonde--bob dylan

blood on the tracks--bob dylan

say your prayers--mike roe

little, big--terry taylor

well, i went to madcity thursday night to see erik brandt and the urban hillbilly quartet (UHQ). there were like EIGHT of them, so they were actually the size of two bands. the show was SOOOOO totally worth the trip! they played the student union terrace @ uw madison which is outdoors and right by the lake. there were hundreds of people there, as it was a lovely evening. the band had a blast playing, and they sounded GREAT! the audience was also great and really liked the music.



there's something about erik brandt as leader of uhq...he seems like such a calm, laidback type of leader. i really really love it when erik gets a huge smile on his face as he witnesses one of his fellow band members jamming on a song. or sometimes he gets this really peaceful contented look as he's playing his accordion and his eyes are closed. his english classes must be sooooo interesting.



ok, a little digression here. it's really noon on saturday as i'm resuming the blog. for those of you who visited this before i woke up at the lovely hour of high noon, this is what you would've read in place of the paragraph that is now in place: "i know that's a really dark photo for uhq. it must be one of the posters used to post the show on the aterline." i think that it would be a safe conclusion to make that i had fallen asleep at that point. i've written some crazy stuff while half asleep. some of you have been recipients of such hogwash. my favorite piece of narcolepticwriting was actually a letter i'd written my best friend josh after one of my 36-hour no sleep marathons (and after driving for 5 hours). the last paragraph of that letter went like this: "the park where the arch is, had a couple of hours free on sat. i mean the park had a couple of guest houses that was his 1st exposure to them. whatever. time to forget about emoticons. whatever. i'm falling asleep." i think i should write an entire book while half-asleep and see how it turns out. it might expose some interesting secrets about myself that i would've never known.



ok. BACK to the UHQ show on thursday night. i had so much fun seeing the band have so much fun. that's the cool part about live music, for all you folks out there who don't get out to many shows. there's something totally cool about being able to witness visually the artists' emotional involvement with their own music as it unfolds. just as there's an important difference between acting on stage and acting in front of a movie or tv camera, there's a difference in dynamic between live musical performance and a studio recording of the same music. i mean, to have the band jump into their version of c&c music factory's "everybody dance now" while a whole group of folks are boogying in front of the stage is just so perfect; you can't get that effect on a cd player. man, i love their version of that song. mikey bales doing the diva parts--it's so perfectly enthralling, i couldn't even begin to describe it. even when i'm busy taking photos, i can't help wanting to toss aside my equipment and cut loose on the dance floor when i hear them do that song! those of you who know my dancing style will know to stay out of my way.



so mikey bales (one of the UHQ fiddlers on this tour) just called me while i was typing this. ok. so i made the drive to the WRONG show it seems. their show last night was at this HEALTH SPA up in rhinelander, wi, and they all got professional massages this morning!!! i could really use one of those...my body is in a questionable state because it had almost forgotten about what it's supposed to do when lying down (i.e. relax), and i must have had a tense 10 hours of sleep last night. it was funny that mikey would call while i was writing about them and while i happened to be listening to amelia's boot. anyways, he told me that they had a good show last night, and that they sold a lot of cds relative to the number of people there. one woman bought ALL their cds and said that their music really touched her somehow. yes, folks! this is totally a true story! (hint: you can get your very own copy of amelia's boot at pastemusic.com: click here)



if you EVER have the chance to see the urban hillbilly quartet live, don't pass up that opportunity. you won't regret it. i really really want to drive up to madeline island to see them play tonight...but i won't. i guess i do have shreds of sanity left. or am i insane for not going? i can see it both ways, personally



p.s. it's really 1:48 pm on saturday as i'm finishing up this blog, not 12:34 am.

p.p.s. here's an interesting blog for all you folks into systems, the internet, freeflowing ideas, etc. [eleanor, pass this on to bruce--i think he'd like it]:

http://www.geocities.com/mikeybales/knowledgeblog.htm that's my friend mikey bales's blog, you know, the 'everybody dance now' dude of UHQ.



cds i've been listening to:

straighaways--son volt (cm--it's growing on me but not that quick. may take 6 months like it did for you.)

amelia's boot--erik brandt & the urban hillbilly quartet (i love these guys...and their music)

rural free delivery--whiskeytown

double nickels on the dime--minutemen

killing floor--VoL (God bless 'em cuz i love 'em!)

daydream nation--sonic youth

odd side of the street--mike merz (who used to play gigs w/ the UHQ a lot by the way--totally awesome songwriter!)

the subversive sounds of love--frisbie (a great band out of chicago! go see them live on 7/25 @ the abbey! it's a benefit w/ some other cool bands.)

i know this sounds crazy, but i think i'm going to madison, wi tonight. erik brandt & the urban hillbilly quartet are playing a free outdoor show on the UW campus, and i feel compelled by some unknown force to go. oh, wait, that unknown force is actually the memory of mikey bales's voice in my head yelling "so are you coming are ya are ya are ya" into aol instant messenger...he can be so virtually convincing...



ya know, i'm not like really all that spontaneous of a gal or anything (ok, i can totally hear my cousin kris laughing and calling me a liar...). i like planning my trips. but i firmly believe that when a unique opportunity makes itself available to me in a 4 hour radius of where i am, i should totally jump on it. and if the urban hillbilly quartet are not a unique experience, i seriously don't know what is. besides, my friend deb bloom just called and she's in, as long as i'm driving. which should be no problem since i have become the expert in driving north of the border. goodness gracious, i can't remember the last time i spent so much time traversing the highways and byways of cheese heaven a.k.a. wisconsin. but i'm excited to be seeing those guys live again. i hope they do words-wings! i better call mikey to remind him...



speaking of mikey, can you believe that dude is going to togo as in togo, africa?! what a rock star. sheesh. i'm so jealous. i've never even stepped foot in africa. some guys have all the luck. rock star fiddler by nights and weekends. polio eradicating superhero in exotic places by 3 months stretches. talk about a unique experience opportunity for someone who's part of the unique experience a.k.a. UHQ!



alright, gotta look alive and then it's off to my favorite midwestern town mad-city!



i'm just gonna end with something i read today in the message by gene peterson (it's like bible for the masses in today's language--you'd almost expect to see words like e-mail and internet in it), something i've been reading thanks to a friend. i don't usually go around spewing bible verses, but this is a cool translation & it's just cool, okay? it's like my kind of poetry, dude...



taken from the end of psalm 5:

"...you'll welcome us with open arms

when we run for cover to you.

let the party last all night!

stand guard over our celebration.

you are famous, God, for welcoming God-seekers,

for decking us out in delight."



i'm all for letting the party last all night and getting decked out in delight! how 'bout you?



spread some love, y'all! i'm going to show mine to one of my favorite bands tonight! cheerio!



today i've been listening to:

odd side of the street--mike merz & can o' worms (mike merz is so totally RAWK!!!)

sound go round--dressy bessy

to the roof of the sky--vigilantes of love

ugh...where does the time go? seems like just yesterday i was frantically getting my crap piled in my car to drive off for cornerstone, pick up megan & meet up w/ caleb at a southside diner. that was like over 2 weeks ago!!! i really don't understand this passage of time thingie. when do we get to shed our ties to time so we can be still, perfectly still, in a single moment, frozen in place for that sliver of existence? or so we can zoom through millenia like they were an amusement park ride and nothing more, going forwards, in loops, round and round and back to where you started all over again?



well, it's been an interesting week since this past weekend. went to oshkosh for lifefest. had an absolute ball w/ bill & the trophy wives a.k.a. VoL. bill, billy, jake & kevin are so totally awesome. they're sweet, funny, and play great rock 'n' roll! i wanna play bass like jake...he's soooo awesome...i suppose i should practice my bass, huh? and i told caleb i'd try to learn to play my j-45 cuz it's a frickin j-45, man, and it should be played, not looked at. sheesh...better keep my nails trimmed...i have a feeling i won't have that j-45 for long if i don't play it like it deserves to be played...



ok, the following is actually adapted from an email i wrote a friend regarding the events of this past weekend, cuz after i wrote the email, i realized it was a journal entry, and i'm too lazy to type the stuff all over again, so if some of it doesn't make sense, it's cuz i'm actually writing to a specific person. anyways...



"if there's one thing my dad taught me, it was to live a passionate and radical life. for as long as i can remember, i have had the desire to take part in changing the world, as naively idealistic as that may sound to some practical people. i got into all this chrisitian social activism stuff about the same time i got exposed to dallas willard, and the combination of the two pretty much turned my christianity upside down. but that got halted along the way, but now i remember where i left off. i'm not going to start again exactly at that point, because i've changed and i'll never be at that same point in life that i was then. but i'm excited to remember where i was before my life was interrupted. does this make any sense at all? i wish i were a clearheaded thinker like you...



"now i don't wanna get into all this activism stuff for the sake of activism itself. instead, i really believe it's what the church is supposed to do to be salt & light & love and all that jazz that jesus wanted us to be in the world. i think it's knowing what the father's up to and taking part in his business. i just know he cares about this stuff. and i'm tired of christians and the church who get so much into theology and abstract spirituality and don't lift a finger to care for the fringe of society who really need it. and i'm totally guilty of this myself, and i'm tired of being a lipsyncing believer."



that's it for the "adapted from email" portion of this blog.



stuff i've been playing on the cd player:



vol--vigilantes of love

killing floor--vigilantes of love

roobrik--the world inside (another jesse sprinkle band)

sunsites--jesse sprinkle

bareface--aaron sprinkle (jesse's brother & original poor old lu-ser)

89/93 an antholgy--uncle tupelo

in between ep--rosie thomas

summerteeth--wilco

a.m.--wilco



real men cry--lost dogs

open mike: a tribute to the songs of mike merz--various artists (including zapruder point, eric z, justin roberts, cow lily, liam davis, etc.)

lucky shoe--september 67

stay what you are--saves the day

loveless--my bloody valentine

straightaways--son volt

wildflowers--tom petty

dear life--the trouble with sweeney

souvlaki--slow dive

ok another quick one here. so yesterday was a super rad day. got to give mike stand of the altar boys a ride from ohare to milwaukee as well as bob hartrey, member of the clash of symbols, an anaheim vineyardite, and the guy who produced mike's last album. it was an awesome ride! the altar boys were such a totally kick-ass band, and they can still kick the rear no questions about it. i SO totally enjoyed their concert, which i went to only cuz caleb told me i had to check 'em out, and he totally knows my taste in music, so i did, and man, did i have fun watching mike go totally nuts on the stage. holy schmole, i love that punk rock music...i told mike that my pastor rand was like totally inspired by them back in high school & college & that he's inspired now being in the ministry to see them still doing the stuff. mike was like so totally touched by that. he's like such a rock star on stage, but sitting all scrunched up on the passenger side of my little honda civic, he's so sweet and down to earth. i had a great time driving him & bob up to germantown.



so i barely made it down to berwyn in time for bill & the trophy wives (VoL) at fitzgeralds. the eisenhower is my enemy. i don't know why there has to be parking lot traffic at 10:30 pm on that road. it doesn't make any sense to me at all. it was a hard night for our boys. they'd had a long drive up from knoxville, had to fight traffic, and one of the amps was not doing all that great. but you know bill. he still plays his heart out. he did the joy division "love will tear us apart" intro to putting out fires w/ petrol, which is like my favorite favorite favorite version. i just totally love BOTH those songs and they go PERFECT together. i gotta get jake to teach me that bass line. or maybe geoff knows it. he seems to know a million songs, but i don't know if he ever got into joy division. man, i frickin love that song...i wanted them to do it again.



chris langill got into the show as my guest which was cool. it was great catching up a bit more w/ him and talking about the folks he's booked in the past, and just hearing old stories back in the days when i was oblivious to the music world. he told me he'd hosted jesse sprinkle back in the poor old lu days, and that he'd totally burned his breakfast, which i think is funny. jesse must have been a BABY back then--he was only like what, 14 when he started playing w/ POL? i wish i'd been paying attention back then. jesse is so totally rad. i love his new music. btw, ryan's band serene which jesse drums for (among other things) had their cd released 7/9 and it debuted at 100 on the CMJ charts. ryan was stoked about that, and i would be too. gotta check those guys out. and holiday runner and the world inside are other jesse and/or ryan endeavors more than worthy of the checkout. that's ryan by the way looking rather introspective. i took that photo back in the beginning of april when stickman jones opened up for clem snide, back when i'd never met tim white and never thought i'd actually meet ryan 3 months later at c-stone.



uhm, anyways, i totally digressed there. after bill & the boys' show, bill did a private show in the artists hospitality room for a fan who wanted a specific song played. it was way cool! we all got to sing along too. bill is so sweet...he must have been so exhausted. and hungry. well, after they packed up and loaded all the equipment in the van, i got like really sad at the thought of them leaving...i think bill has kind of represented jesus to me the way my dad had, and even though he's like way too young to be my dad, i see glimpses of my father in him--mainly the passion that marks everything he does--which really makes it hard for me to see him & the guys leave. bill really is the best of men. it's been such an inspiring and healing time for me to be around him, as he speaks so adoringly of his wife and as he just speaks love and kindness for the hurting world. you can feel the waves of love emanate from his being, and it just sometimes is overwhelming. i remember the first time i saw him, just him & billy holmes, and at the end of the show he was saying things like "be good to each other...practice random acts of kindness..." etc something along those lines, and for some reason, it really touched me, and because bill had said it, i wanted to do it. he really brings out the best in people.



after eating dinner w/ them and listening to all their stories, i drove home, and i just started crying because i really missed my dad. and now w/ c-stone over, and bill & the others leaving, and caleb gone, it was just a sad sad moment for me. i didn't understand why my dad wasn't around, and i just wanted to be with him as i sped down the ike at 3:30 am. i still don't understand.



my brother rigged up his record player for me so i could listen to denison's philadelphia songs lp, which has that one song "do i really have to let you go?" that denison said was for me...it was really hard to listen to...and other songs on that album made me think of my dad...i just couldn't listen to it last night. maybe later i'll be able to get through it. don't get me wrong--it's totally beautiful. denison is totally beautiful. and that song really really means a lot to me...i was just in a heavy mood last night.



so anyways, i can't stand the thought of bill leaving so i'm going up to oshkosh this weekend where bill & the boys are doing lifefest so i can see them play 2 more times. and hopefully i can get to spend some time w/ bill. he's so totally rad, you guys, i can't even express how absolutely totally rad he is.



stuff i've been listening to:

anthology 89-93 or something like that--uncle tupelo (billy holmes playes on moonshine, track #14!)

tim--the replacements

pleased to meet me--the replacements

making god smile (brian wilson tribute album)--various artists

audio lesson over--delirious

18--moby

audible sigh--bill mallonee & vol

summershine--vol



stuff i need to post on--

cornerstone

pedro the lion concert

the white stripes concert