i learned recently that a “brownie” is a kind of elf from scotland. that is where the cleveland browns get their name. why do i always see people in dog costumes? clevleand football fans should dress up like elves. i would. maybe would be more timely to be dicussing da bears (which are way more scary than elves or gnomes), but we were in cleveland the other day, doing a show at the hi fi club, one of our favorite places to play in the world.

firstly, here is a minute of random stuff our drummer dan shot, that i lovingly edited for him since he forgot to take the tape:

doesn’t make sense to me either but it did make me laugh. all i can say is we don’t smoke pot, and they were totally sober.

on the way up, i realized that our van is old. i’ve been in denial for a while i guess. for a long time i’ve maintained the position that the van is a really nice ride, with a few minor problems. it hit me like a brick–our van is a piece of crap. the side door doesn’t close all the way (nor does the window on that door), the antenna doesn’t go up (but makes a grinding sound as it tries), the front is all smashed in from hitting a deer, the battery dies every other time we use it (bad battery cable?), both the driver side and passenger side windows barely go down, and when they do they get stuck, the transmission grumbles, only one lighter socket works, and so on. jesus. it really is a piece of crap. i suppose we could get all these little things fixed. it would cost some money though. it’s hard to sink money into a sinking ship.

but at least it runs. and at least we have an enormous trailer we can stand up in. in this way we stay comfortable about our masulinity as we pull up alongside another band’s van and trailer.

friday was especially fun since embassy and oval opus were on the bill. i think when you get to a point as a band where you’re traveling to do some shows outside your town, you get to know and play with a lot of other regional bands in that situation. aaron from oval opus and i talked a little bit about the Q102 contest; todd from embassy and i sort of about love lost and booking. at the end of the night i sang “you can’t always get what you want” with oval opus and mike from embassy.

the show went pretty well. unfortunately we didn’t allow ourselves enough time for soundcheck and we kind of rushed on stage without a setlist so there were some crickets. plus we played at 9 o’clock, which at a small club show means the crowd is completely sober as they’ve just started drinking, so they are relatively quiet.

here is a short clip of the beginning of white bird:

after the show we hung out all night and talked with people. i got to see my friend craig from la (who taped the show for reference) and my friend andy from new york. so it was young music people from the coasts. a lot of folks were in town for some rock and roll hall of fame punk rocker inductions.

what else is new? i’m reading a book about islam, a collection of sermons from the dali lama. and skimming another about movie production. one day i intend to make a movie. and write a musical. and possibly a movie sound track. among other things. but in the present, well future rather
thursday we are playing acoustic at clique lounge in covington and it would be nice to see you.

in the now
i hope you are well

joe