pictured above is Sam Dobrozsi and i in an alley after the show. Sam played with us during the SWIM period, and filled in the other night in columbus. to enhance your julyforkings.com viewing experience, i made these photos look nice and dusty, dirty rock poster-esque. plus, i know Sam’s opposed to almost every rock cliche in the book. usually rightfully so.

thanks a ton sam for doing the show with us. we had fun, you sounded great. it was nostalgic, of course. we opened with invincible and closed with normal life. the room was full, the set was solid.

the following night we played soupie’s in cincinnati. i had a little trouble with my acoustic guitar. other than that i had a great time on stage. i have been exceptionally energetic the last few shows. i’m just really trying to let loose and get into it. i dug out my i love ohio shirt. here’s a photo by Jen. she claims this is the best photo of me ever. i like the cool colors balanced with warm. i don’t know if that’s what she meant.

jen and her friend ronda are celebrating their 50th July For Kings show. that’s probably more than some band members. i believe rachel and lissa are at about 50 shows too. i know there are a few of you who may have those numbers beat. if you’re not shy about your concert attendence insanity, e-mail me a figure and i’ll put it up.
and to everyone who has been following us over the years,
thank you for your loyalty. i realize how lucky we are to have people like you guys supporting us. the world is fickle. thanks for helping to provide us with some continuity and stability. you make every club feel like home.

this week we were on the cover of CIN Weekly. it’s awesome. it cracks me up. sitting in a wading pool. i love it. they used three photos. us in a wading pool for the cover, t and i jumping into a pool (over drew and dan) for page 2, and me singing into a croquet mallet with all the guys for page 22. yeah, you kind of have to see it to believe it/make sense of it. i would scan them to put them up here, but i think there are some folks at CIN who read the journal. and they may have me arrested me for copyright violations.

we made it to #2 in the AlternativeAddiction.com charts! “One By One” is in the top 20 singles chart, Nostalgia is #3 in the top 10 albums chart. please vote for the single or vote for the album now! thanks! SO close to #1.

i am working on two new songs. maybe they’re good. who knows. it’s been over 48 hours for one of them and i still like it, so chances are it may be a keeper. may be.

i have been writing a lot. i am trying to just write constantly. when i’m not doing something stupid like trying to make money. i can tell you that the next July For Kings album will be different then Nostalgia, just as Nostalgia was different than SWIM. i think that’s a good thing. the songs are still taking shape. it’s really a cool process, and excites me to start thinking about how different songs might fit on an album together. or might not…

next up, The Mad Frog, next friday night.
until then!

joe