the other night we played at Xavier university. it was probably the most chill non-acoustic show we’ve done in a long time. the whole ambiance was just laid-back. the night sky, tiki torches, tired overworked college students on blankets in the grass. but they were so attentive and polite. shows are different when there’s no alcohol involved. not necessarily worse or better but different.

we played okay. i didn’t make time for a good warm up so my voice was not in great shape. doh! but whatever. the vibe was right. lots of SWIM fans there. i now have the impression that our popularity at xavier waned circa 2002. so we played meteor flower and girlfriend and whatever else and people were happy about that. we were happy they were happy. everybody was very friendly. i tried to talk about goats some more but it didn’t work. i’m going to let that go now.

let me tell you about my latest obsession–music. my girlfriend bought me an iPod for my birthday. she really hasn’t seen me since. i have been ripping every cd i own. two computers running, moving files with an external hard drive. digging up old albums at my mom’s house, filling in the gaps by borrowing things from my sisters, and with single song downloads at itunes. i am CONSUMED by it.
since i am constantly losing things and i have had all my CD’s stolen twice, to say i am trying to restore my music collection to its original glory is not quite accurate–this is more like letting it finally achieve its full potential. my guiltiest of pleasures (Phil Collins and Marilyn Manson) and the hip shit too (Radiohead and Arcade Fire). it’s all here.

i have ripped and downloaded 3300 songs or so, that’s 9.5 straight days of music (228 hours), 12.67 Gigs. This means my iPod is only a little over half full, so i have plenty of room for more music in the next few years.

hey guess what i have discovered–Nostalgia is now available on iTunes! we are out of real CD’s for a little while. so if you need a few songs to tide you over, check it out. if you have some JFK in your iTunes library, be sure to include us in your iMixes. that’s one word to spread the word about us online and requires no real effort. i am very a happy we are on itunes. (would be happier if every media company in the planet wasn’t using that damn out of date All Music Guide bio. syndicated content sucks. suck-o.)

What’s next? looks like we have some time off. that will enable me to write some more songs and hopefully make some concrete plans for getting back into the studio.

whole grain
joe

i fricking love goats.
i love creatures of all sorts but man i love goats.

we played the sidney ohio applefest
with a fest, you just never know what you’re getting into.
i think i’ve said that before.
but this summer’s fests have proven to be surprisingly enjoyable.
after arriving
while waiting on instructions,
T bought me a hot dog
we love sauerkraut
then i treated myself to a funnel cake with apples on top. it was applefest afterall and the apples were delicious naturally as are most things drowned in cinnamon and butter and sugar.
the announcer crackled over the pa “up next, christian band july for kings”.
we were going to let them think whatever they wanted
until the sound guy asked me “are you guys really a christian band?”
i didn’t comment on my faith but explained that our MUSIC was secular. but even the word secular sounds so christian doesn’t it? is that ironic? from now on if i have to awkwardly answer questions about the christianity of our music, i’m definitely going to include the word secular. that lets ‘em down easy, since it reveals that i at least know my christian terminology.
you say the word jesus in one song
in any context
and that shit follows you around forever

but hey
i fricking love goats.

they are so nice.
before we took the stage, we went to the petting zoo
there was a sign letting us know it was family owned,
unlike those big corporate petting zoos i’m used to
this was the highlight of my evening
a soft furry baby bull stuck it’s tongue in dan’s ear
then i made t kiss it for a photo
i guess baby bulls love making out anyway
so it didn’t take much coaxing

also available for touching were two pot belly pigs, a horse, and woodland creatures of all sorts gathered together in the same pen
a barrage of cuteness.
it was overwhelming

we played an atypical set; we wanted to include more acoustic songs because of the crowd. we did the full band normal life acoustic. i don’t know if we’ve ever done that. there’ s a recorded version, but i don’t think we’ve ever played it that way live. it was fun and fresh. the weather was wonderful
the crowd was small but receptive.
the pa was barely adequate but it was okay

after the show we went to bullalo wild wings with the nice show coordinator and her family
to drink beer and watch OSU throw the game.
it was very american
in a good way

tonight we are playing at Xavier university. i love X words. i have a good feeling about it. i will let you know how it goes.

baah
joe