in the last journal entry, in a moment of late-night absentmindedness, i mistakenly referred to Spiff, one of the bands on the madison bill, as Bluf (another cincy band). f’s and vowels sometimes give me trouble. i corrected the entry. my apologies to Spiff. you can check them out at www.spiffmusic.com.
today we had a JFKArmy gathering at O’Charley’s in Middletown, Ohio to eat some food and hang-up fliers. i was late, naturally, as i couldn’t find my keys (they were on the chair). T hates my traffic excuse, so i won’t mention the traffic in cincinnati. whoops i guess i did anyway. construction on I-75. i thought when i was ten years old that they would have it finished by the time i got my license. but i guess those things take time. why are we not making roads out of something that doesn’t fall apart when it gets driven on and snowed on? it cannot be that we haven’t anticipated all the driving and snowing.
anyway, if you didn’t hear about the gathering, it’s because you aren’t on the JFKArmy (sign up!), or don’t live within a few hundred miles of Middletown, OH (move!). even if you don’t plan on attending events like that, it’s cool to sign-up because it allows us to send out e-mails that are actually relevant. for instance, i spared our European street teamers the e-mail about meeting in Middletown, OH. in addition to e-mail about JFKA events, sometimes i will send an e-mail to JFKA folks in a certain area, letting them know about shows or show plans in their neighborhood. don’t worry about your inbox space–expect e-mail once a month if that.
i’ve typed a page and still haven’t said anything relevant about today. i’m just going to ramble for a while; i think the journal has been lacking in rambling. it really wouldn’t be a journal without a little of that. it would just be news. and if you want news there’s always www.julyforkings.com/main or www.theonion.com for that.
at dinner, Sam suggested i try the meat salad. not sure what the real name was, but it’s a salad with lots of fried chicken on top. and some mandarin oranges. it seems like the greenery and fruit surrounding the fried stuff may give one the illusion of a healthy meal. i personally prefer to cut right to the chase and eat some chicken tenders with cheesecake. i couldn’t tell if my healthy salad had been invaded by the chicken, or if the chicken somehow became less appealing on that bed of low-calorie lettuce. it was one of the two i’m certain. either way, you’re eating more than if you had just ordered a small salad or chicken tenders, and i guess that’s the point.
after much eating and merriness (inspired by 5 year old JFKArmy member Samantha), we broke into groups, and reconvened at Staples, to buy staples. somewhat ironically, we settled on thumb tacks and tape. and so it was, that on the brisk eve of tuesday december sixteenth, we struck out with thumb tacks, tape, and fliers to paper the town.
in my car (hereafter be referred to as “blue team”) was travis, brittany, stefani, and katie. we took downtown area, which included several bars and nightclubs. we broke out of our jurisdiction a bit to cover Danburry Cinemas, or more specifically, the windshields of every car parked at Danburry Cinemas. if you are reading this because you found a suspicious flier on your windshield, welcome! (or don’t sue me or fine me, depending on your demeanor).
i think it’s important to do grass roots stuff like that. it’s really humbling and satisfying, as well as fun and usually effective. nothing gets you more in touch with your roots like doing the same things you used to do, in the same places. a few years ago everything was about paper fliers, local papers, and word of mouth; the internet has kind of taken precedence since then, but i think maybe we should make an effort to get back to more of that brick and mortar door to door kind of promotion.
after the flyer (flier?)’ing, i went to Canal Street to see my sister sing some new songs, and hung out with an old friend.
i am knackered.
Dan has some photos of today at O’Charleys, supposedly. i will try and get them up here or on www.JFKArmy.com, if we can ever figure out how to get our e-mail addresses to play nicely. speaking of e-mail, i am a few weeks behind. i should be able to catch up and get back to you within the next couple days.
thanks to everyone who came out; hopefully we’ll see it pay off with a big turnout on the 28th.
lots of love
joe