09.03.07 7:59am

Back to work after the three day weekend. Des and I took the dogs camping at Stampede over the holiday weekend. It was fun and really relaxing. It’ll probably be the last camping trip of the year. It rained for two days before we got there so it was cool and mildly humid. I miss humidity.

I got a new cell phone because my old one just stopped working. The new one is pretty fancy. It’s a camera, MP3 player, internet browser and I think it makes espresso too. Anymore it’s hard to find a cell phone that just makes phone calls. They were able to get all my contacts off the old phone and transfer them to the new one which was nice.

The El Cerdo show is tomorrow. I wish we were playing.

6:17pm

So Ryan just left with the two-hundredth copy of my book on a CD. We had to re-re-format it back to the version I had originally given him. It’s a pain in the ass, but there is a bit of a learning curve in DIY publishing. Word is I’ll have one-hundred books on September 13th. One day before the show. Life is a cabaret.

09.05.07 7:22am

Kyle came down to try-out as Scaring Sparrows vocalist last night. I think he’s the guy. Donny liked him a lot, I haven’t talked to Josh about it yet and I think he did a good job. I’ll talk to Josh about it today and make a decision.

El Cerdo came into town last night. They came over and checked out our practice. They seemed to like it. Jayson said we sound like “High on Fire if he went punk.” I took that as high praise. After practice the guys came over to the house we hung out and talked into the wee hours of the morning. I’m exhausted today and there is still the show tonight.

I’ve been surprised by the comparisons people who’ve heard Scaring Sparrows have made. There have been multiple mentions of American Nightmare (Give up the Ghost, what ever), Coliseum and Black Flag. We’ve also now heard Mastodon and High on Fire once each. (Kyle said the two songs we spent the most time on last night sounded like Mastodon meets Black Flag). All things considered, that’s right where I want us to be.

I’m fighting to stay awake this morning by listening to Remission by Mastodon. And I won’t be getting much sleep tonight either.

09.06.07 7:21am

I’m so fucking tired. Two nights with little to no sleep. I think that’s the worst thing that can happen to an on-again off-again insomniac, getting to that place where you can get 4 or 5 hours a night and then not having time to even try to sleep.

The show last night went off without a hitch. It was a ton of fun. None of the bands stayed over last night, they made the long haul to Portland but we did feed them before left. Des whipped up a huge batch of spaghetti and two kinds of sauce (one vegan and one not).

I love the guys in El Cerdo. Every time I see them I laugh and have fun. Josh (vocalist) is going to help me get some spoken words dates in the Portland area for the book tour.

I was worried about having the Network guys over to the house (I guess they had some kind of confrontation with Jeff at the Fort Ryland show) but they were some of the nicest most respectful guys I’ve ever met. They’re welcome in my house anytime.

09.07.07 9:49am

Still no sleep. Scaring Sparrows practiced late last night. We decided Kyle is our singer, so the line-up is complete. Donny and I came up with a new riff and we stayed after Josh and Kyle left to work on it. We ended up leaving the shed at like 11:45pm. I’m exhausted to the point of delirium but it was worth it, the riff we came up with is so good I got goose-bumps playing it.

Listening to Black Eyes, Cough this morning and hallucinating of pillows and comforters.

1:54pm

There were more lay-offs at work today. It’s unusual for them to let people go on a payday. It’s pretty nerve racking to see so many people lose their jobs. The housing market is in the worst slump in over a decade, no one’s job is safe.

09.10.07 7:21am

I survived another round of lay-offs last week. I’m glad to still have a job, but I hate seeing so many people lose theirs. It’s a rough time in the building industry right now.

Practice went well last night. Donny is a great guy to be in a band with. He hears things differently than anyone I’ve worked with in the past. He makes these seemingly insignificant changes to the songs and all of the sudden the whole thing comes together. Sometimes it something as simple as the way a riff is picked and it just makes everything work better and sound bigger. I’m learning a lot from him. I’ve made more progress as a guitarist in the last month than I have in the six months prior. I think we’ll be ready for shows soon, but I don’t want to rush it. I’ve made that mistake in the past and it never ends well.

Listening to You Fail Me, by Converge this morning. I didn’t like this record when I first heard it, but now it’s one of my favorite Converge records.

09.12.07 7:36am

Practice went really well last night. We made some progress on a new song we started last week. And we re-vamped the first song we wrote to make more energetic. Kyle has vocal ideas for two or three of the songs. This band is so much fun. The four of us get along really well. We all seem to have a similar sense of humor and taste in music. We have three songs done and two more nearing completion. We’re talking about doing a Black Flag cover. Should be playing shows by October.

Listening to Since by Man, Pictures from the Hotel Apocalypse this morning.

09.13.07 7:45am

Today is the day I’m supposed to get the books. Stressed can’t begin to describe how I’m feeling. Not having books for the show tomorrow would be awful. I have a hard enough time getting through these spoken word shows. Any added stress almost ensures failure.

Listening to Twilight Singers, Powder Burns this morning. Band practice tonight, I can’t wait.

09.14.07 10:40pm

Back home from my sort-of book release show. The books didn’t make it in time, but there was a nice crowd and everything went well performance-wise. The Good Dudes did a great job opening and I feel really good about my reading and talking sections. All told this was a good night. The books will be here Monday.

09.18.07 7:20am

Still no sign of my books. I wish I knew what was going on with that.

I got to see Helmet play this week. Easily one of the most influential bands in my life. It wasn’t the original line up, just Page Hamilton and some other dudes, but it was still very cool. I got to met Page afterwards and that was huge for me. He was a very down-to-earth and cool guy. It’s nice when you meet someone you’ve looked up to and they don’t disappoint you.

Practice with Scaring Sparrows is going well. We have three songs finished and two more near complete. We’ve found our “sound” and are rearranging and tightening songs up to fit that mold. This band is quickly becoming everything I’ve wanted out of a band.

09.26.07 7:08am

Last night we hit a road block on a song we’ve been working on for the last week. It turns out one of the main riffs we were playing is an Isis song from the newest CD. We stole it almost note for note. Once we figured that out it was back to the drawing board for that song. It’s a huge set back and kind of a bummer too. We had worked really hard on that tune. We had a really interesting arrangement and the song had a cool almost hypnotic feel to it. I’m sure we can come with something as good if not better. And really if we are going to inadvertently steal riffs, Isis is no bad place to be.

Des is hosting a bachelorette party this weekend so I’m off to Santa Cruz to record with Fred Crusade. Should be fun.
Listening to Thurston Moore’s new solo record, Trees Outside the Academy.

09.27.07 9:07am

Work is slow going this week. Monday I start out on my new job site, there very little left for me to do at the old site. It’s been boring and the days are dragging. I’m looking forward to my road trip tomorrow. I really wish I had my books. It would be nice to get those to my Santa Cruz friends.

Listening to Mastodon, Blood Mountain.

09.28.07 7:26pm, Santa Cruz, CA.

Well it’s been a long day but I am in Santa Cruz. The last 20 miles driving in to town has to be one the most beautiful stretches of highway in California. It’s a small two-lane highway with curve after curve (great fun on a motorcycle, I wish I had mine with me now) both sides of the highway are lined with gorgeous forests. It’s especially beautiful just before Fall. Happy to be here, need to eat.

P.S. I got my books today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

09.29.07 5:52pm, Santa Cruz, CA.

I had a long day today and not much sleep last night. My neighbor in the motel was locked out of her room by her kid at seven am and pounded on the door for an hour trying to get the kid to open up and let her in. They should both drown.

In what has be come a tradition when I travel, I got hopelessly lost while walking around Santa Cruz last night and again this morning. I got some record shopping done last night and tried to get the books out. There is one independent book store in the downtown area and they showed no interest in a DIY collection from a Reno writer. Fuck ‘em.

I met up with Fred around noon and we made some noise. It was a lot of fun. I read two pieces and Fred put loops and static over the top. And we did two guitar pieces as well. I can’t wait for him to mix everything so I can hear it.

Walked on the beach today. I love the ocean. The sound of the water, the salty smell in the air, it re-energizes me.

Going rest a bit here in the room and then go down to the water around sun set.

Listening to 108, New Beat from a Dead Heart.