05.01.07 7:57am

Back home and back to work. Another band dropped off the benefit show, but Ryan was able to find someone to replace them. There are four bands now and it will be a good show.

We managed to cram some more fun into our trip Monday morning before we had to leave. Hanging out on the beach and taking photos of surfers. Pismo Beach is one of Des’ favorite places to be so we tried to get as much out of the trip as we could. Next weekend we go to San Francisco, but it won’t be a fun trip. We have to go see one of Des’ long time friends off to Baghdad. We’re going to try to have fun, but there will be a dark cloud hanging over the weekend. He pulled a dangerous job. Not that there are any safe jobs in Baghdad now, but he pulled a particularly dangerous gig. He’ll be protecting US Military convoys which are a popular target for suicide bombers.

We did end up stopping at The Beat in Sacramento yesterday on the way home. We hit Sacramento at 5:00pm on the dot and thought it would be better to stop and eat some dinner then try to fight five o’clock traffic on a Monday.

05.02.07 7:26am

Last night after NameMeNoone practice, I stayed at the shed and played some of the Guns Down songs. I haven’t played those songs since the last time I played them with Guns Down. I was really surprised at how much I remembered. I can’t help but smile while I play that music. I really miss that band. If the opportunity came to reunite, I’d do it in a heart beat.

05.06.07 9:19pm

We’re home after a too brief trip to the Bay Area. We arrived Saturday at about 5:30pm and got checked in and took a short nap. By 7:00pm we were engaged in one of my top 5 least favorite things to do: bar hopping. The point of the trip was to spend time with David, one of Des’ long time friends, before he ships off to Baghdad. He’s idea of fun is getting obliterated with his buddies so we tagged along. Neither Des nor I drink; we were the only sober members of our rather large group. Since it was old high school friends Des’ ex was with us the whole night. I don’t have any problem with him, but there is no common ground for us to meet on and hold a conversation. He tries anyway and I get annoyed. Since we were all out together from 7:00pm to about 2:00am, I was annoyed a lot.

Today was a better day. Our Reno contingent (me, Des, Cousin Amanda and Cousin Jeff) met David and his female companion for breakfast. After a nice meal, David wanted to go record shopping. I’ll never say no to a record store trip. We hit Rasputin’s in SF but found very little so we hopped a bus to Haight St and spent a few hours in Amoeba. I found some things that were on my LA list but were left behind and got a copy of Grinderman on vinyl. Some things were meant to be heard on vinyl and the Grinderman record is one of those things.

The trip was fun, but there was a dark cloud over the weekend to say the least. I truly like David and he’ll be heavy on my mind every time I watch a news report on the war. If I were a religious man, I’d pray for his safe return, as it is I’ll just make sure to think of him everyday and email him bootlegged music when ever I have the chance.

05.07.07 8:00am

I have allergies that only seem to affect me in Reno. Last weekend in Pismo and LA I felt great, the week after we got home, I felt like shit. This weekend in the Bay Area I felt great, today back home I feel like shit again. Jokingly in the hotel room Sunday morning I told Des we needed to get rich so we could just travel around a live in hotels forever. It really doesn’t sound like such a bad plan.

I’m re-reading Go Tell it on the Mountain by Jeffery Lee Pierce. The last time I read it I hadn’t really absorbed much of his music so the stories, although interesting, didn’t mean much to me. Jeffery’s music, especially Gun Club, has been on consent rotation for the last month or two so reading those same stories now is a completely different experience for me. Talk about your tortured souls. And in true tortured genius musician fashion he died young. Thankfully he left behind this book and between Gun Club, solo work and other various projects something in the neighborhood of twenty albums and another twenty or so singles. Not a bad legacy.

1:06pm

All day today I’ve been thinking about the room Des and I had in SF. It was a small little room with the old school tray ceilings. You could see where they’d sheet-rocked over the little window that was above the door. It was the kind of room I could imagine Bukowski living for months on end. I could see him writing poems about redheads who’ve left him on the little round table in the alcove with the bay window that looks out to the back of another old brick building. I could imagine him flicking his cigarette ash out the bay window to the alley below or lying awake on the small, rock-hard mattress waiting for the next poem to come. It was a cool room in a very cool building just off Union Square. If I ever had the opportunity to live in SF that’s the neighborhood I’d like to be in. I love that section of town and go there as often as I can.

05.12.07 2:13pm

The benefit show last night went really well. I ended up working the door the whole night which was fine. All told the show raised $735 for Nick and his family and that’s not including the money raised from the art auction. I love being able to do something to help people. I’m pretty sure I’ll never do anything that changes the whole world, but if I can help change the worlds of some worthy individuals, I’m doing all right.

05.14.07 7:26am

I had a great weekend. Saturday I rode my motorcycle around town and ended up at Ryan Stark’s house hanging out, listening to music and watching Nick Cave videos. He and I have some ideas cooking that we’ll get to when he gets back from tour. I may be going on the first leg of his tour with him which will be fun.

Sunday I took the bike down to the river and met up with my mom and dad. We went to the Nevada Museum of Art, had a nice Mothers Day lunch and took in the Warhol exhibit.

One of my birthday gifts this year was a wireless remote for the iPod. It’s pretty cool. I can strap it to the handle bars of my motorcycle and I have full control of volume, power and I can skip tracks. I feel safer being able to shut the tunes off if I get into a situation that needs my full concentration while on the bike. I got to use it for the first time this weekend.

3:10pm

I had to rush home at lunch today. The female sugarglider got her foot stuck in some bedding and chewed her leg off. These are some intense animals, man. They have such a strong survival instinct that they’d rather lose a leg then go hungry or thirsty. The veterinarian told us it is not at all uncommon for them to chew off a limb if they’re stuck. Their parental instinct is hardcore too. If they get stressed out or feel that they can’t take care of their babies, they kill them. Brutal.

05.16.07 5:56pm

I started working on the third annual Hunter’s Tree of Hope benefit show today. I want to go big this year, real big. I’ll keep you all posted.

05.21.07 9:05am

Des and I are planning a trip to New Orleans in October. I haven’t been there since I was two or three years old. I’m really looking forward to it.

Ryan is going to get my book out after his tour. Should around July I think. His tour is over in late June. I can’t wait to plan my book release and tour. The Guns Down posthumous CD should be out around the same time. I played a bunch of the GD songs on guitar this weekend. I can remember parts to all thirteen songs, and all of about four songs. I miss that band.

I’ve been listening to Bauhaus all morning at work. It’s funny a lot of people think of that band as a gloomy, gothic, depressing band, but they wrote quite a few upbeat rockers in their time. The BBC sessions CD is a rock record almost all the way through. Good stuff. I’ve been in a Roxy Music mood all day but I haven’t put them in my iPod yet.

05.23.05 7:25am

Yesterday was a good day. I had the first practice with the Tony, Clint, Chris project. We came up with the beginnings of two songs. It should be a fun project. After practice I went and saw Clutch at Club Underground. It’s cool to me that they are doing some all ages shows now. I like the idea that kids can see bands like Clutch in Reno. I’ve seen them four or five times now and they get better every time. It’s funny every time I’ve seen them it’s been right here in good ol’ Reno. They are a band I would travel to see, I just never have. One of the opening acts, Backyard Tire Fire, where really good. I’ll need to get some of their stuff. I didn’t have any extra money after buying my ticket so I didn’t get any merch. Oh well, that’s what the internet is for, yeah?

I started reading a book called Prisoner of Tehran, by Marina Nemat this week. It’s a true story of a young woman in Iran who was arrested and sentenced to death for speaking out when her calculus class changed over night to a study of the Koran. Her life was spared when a guard whose family had a strong political influence had her sentence reduced to life in prison on the condition she agreed to marry him, renounce her faith and convert to Muslim. Scary stuff. It’s hard to imagine a life like that. We take so much freedom for granted here in America. As bad as things can get here, we are soft and weak by comparison.

Listening to Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Moanin’ this morning and wishing I was one of those people who could sleep at night.

05.24.07 9:50am

It’s already been a bad day at work. Last night someone broke into a house and stole the tile that should have been installed today. We’re talking close to three grand worth of material. It sets back the completion of the house by about five days which brings my bosses down on my head. Time is money and all that. I fucking hate thieves.

Listening to Paris in April, by April March and trying to let it go. I love the sound of French singing.

05.29.07 7:55am

I finally finished reading Prisoner of Tehran. It was a tough read. There were moments of such tragedy and pain that I actually felt sick to my stomach. It amazes me the things humans are capable of in the name of religion. Faith can be a terrifying weapon.

Des and I had a good three day weekend. On Sunday we went to Nevada City and spent the day walking around looking at the old houses and buildings and taking photos. There’s a lot of history in those old California gold mining towns. We ate lunch at a great Mexican restaurant near a bubbling creek surrounded by towering pine trees and I couldn’t help but think of Big Sur. Monday we spent the day listening to Siouxsie and the Banshees, Gang of Four and Trouble Funk while cleaning out the leaves in our yard and planting a flower garden. Monday night we watched some movies and just relaxed. We saw Children of Man which is an amazing film. And in keeping with the apocalyptic future theme we watched Idiocracy, the newer Mike Judge film. Idiocracy wasn’t very good. It had some funny moments and a great idea, but over all it was poorly executed. The idea of the film is that in five hundred years our world will be so dumbed down by constant exposure to mass media and over breeding by the lowest common denominator that things like art, literature and film no longer exist. All to be replaced with 24 hour reality TV, fart jokes and monster truck pulls. The sad thing is I can actually see a future like that for America. As a whole our country seems to be leaning away from intellectualism and toward Blue Collar TV and self-imposed ignorance. When the Insane Clown Posse sells more records than Chuck D, we’re in a sad and dangerous place.

It’s two weeks and counting till our Portland adventure kicks off. I can’t wait. I was going to accompany Ryan the first few days of his talking tour, but his itinerary changed and it’s not going to work out. I want to travel a lot this year. If I can’t go on tour with a band, then I’ll just have to drag my wife along with me. We’ll be spending Halloween in New Orleans this year. October seems so far away.

Listening to The People’s Choice, by Nomeansno this morning and reminiscing. We listened to this CD a lot on the Guns Down mini-tour.

5.30.07 10:19am

I’m trying to get some writing done this morning. I have about five or six pages of poems for the poetry book, and another ten or more pages of poems that I’m not comfortable putting in the book. They’re not finished or good or whatever. I’d like to finish that book before the end of the year, but I’ve got a long road ahead of me. I also have about eleven short stories in various stages of completion for another short story collection. I’ve been trying to write everyday but it never seems to work out that way. Some weeks, or even months, I’ll hammer out an easy 3000 words a day, then I’ll hit a dry spell and won’t write anything for a while. I don’t like forcing it. If it doesn’t gush out of me like blood from an open wound then I have to do something else until it does.

The last two days I’ve been shuffling the albums on my iPod and just listening to what ever comes on. Turns out my work days are about 450 songs long. Useless fact #1025.

Leonard Cohen’s Dear Heather is on the speakers this morning and it feels like a good day to get some writing done.

05.31.07 7:59am

Last night we celebrated Dave’s 40th birthday. I’ve known that guy going 15 years now. In a month give or take he’ll be living in a different state. I’m going to miss having him around.

Barack Obama is speaking in Reno today at noon. I’m going to try to sneak away from work and go see him. After reading his book and seeing him speak around the country on TV, I am very interested in seeing him in person. He’s a great public speaker and he seems to have some really good ideas regarding the state of our nation. I guess I need a ticket even though it’s free, I hope I didn’t blow it again by not paying attention to details.

Bjork’s Telegram is on the iPod and things could be worse.