I listened to The Faint all the way home from Portland. This was a good trip. It's the first road trip I've driven since the accident. being on the freeway was now and then emotional with visions of driving up the cement barriers and flipping my car into traffic, but everything turned out fine and I had a damn entertaining weekend.
I caught enough local Portland bands to notice that there's a real Radio Rock sound going around town... ugh, how boring. The Ovulators could really spice the place up. Ofcourse, the last Piss Shivers show was no where near radio rock. Dee Dee's guitar tone was much smoother than I've heard it before, and he seemed to have a new control over the wah pedal... or maybe it was just the sobriety that comes with being the second band in a line up of five... still, I hope the new tone crosses into The Decliners. The Decliners are the next band morphed out of The Shivers.
I kicked it tight with El Dufe of Busholini. We cruised the town, blaring The Faint, which El Dufe deemed great music for washing windows, and landed at Devil's Point... a bar that comes out of the grimy psyche of punk rock. No, I've never been to this exact club before, but walking through the door, it was like I've been there a thousand times. I knew this place in my core. It reminded me of a certain bar in every city I've ever lived in, this one was transformed from strip dive into rock dive. Yum yum. Starantula was the star. Man, they burst my brain into mesmerized mush and I had to go to the mall the next day and buy a new one. The guitarist's gritty blues licks had me swooning and the lead singer's dynamic stage flair makes me feel as if I was around for the 70's underground. With my brain gone, I was done for the night, but easily convinced by El Dufe to drive aimlessly through all neighborhoods of the city and ingest late night hot dogs... ugh... you got to be careful when you kick it with the big boys in the city.

WOW. Sometimes you try and you try and you try to get something to work and it just doesn't happen ... and doesn't happen and doesn't happen... and then, you find yourself in the right place with all the right information and all the glitches smooth away and suddenly... your life has changed.

please go Here, and link to "photos". Thanks Danny. Most photos by Mr. Random, and some by Dori's roommate Justin.

Right now, I'm geeking out with DJ Sleeve la la on vinyl and life and processing... it's been awhile that we've done this. It's a nice place to settle into now and again... sorry Sleeve, that I called you "nice", lydia lunch recently said that's an insult...

anyways, so much to blog about, and so little computer time to do it. We went to the luckey's appreciation dinner night and that was really sweet and appreciated. The owner Jo Dee was making the rounds introducing herself to bands and thanking us for our effect on the club. I'm surprised more people didn't turn out. I thought most musicians were always jumping on the chance for a free meal.

Thursday night was my last chance to see Toad in the Hole. They are breaking up. I'm glad they at least had the decency to play a couple gigs after decideing to call it quits. I called up Tina and said: we have to go, and she said, yes we have to go. It was the mellowest Toad in the Hole audience I'd ever seen. But quickly it got wild on the dance floor with lots of people designing their own idea of a "jig". I had a good time after their set outside bonding with the bass player, John. It was good to hear about his recent life and post-Toad in the Hole plans....John, the flute player, Liz and new fiddler plan to keep playing together. I love Toad in the Hole so much. Not only have they made a huge impression on Eugene, sold more beers at the bar than any other, but I've also had a chance to feel close with the band and play music with several of the members. It's sad to see the band break up, but I know that we aren't losing the members in our community and I'm excited to see what they will each do next.

(conversation w/ Sleeve... have you heard "daft punk is playing at my house"?
me: no, can we just listen to the whole album? I haven't heard any of it.
Sleeve: Yeah, we should, but it has to be loud)

oooo, cool photos of the gig on Mr. R's site.

Something felt really different last night at luckey's. We opened up the night with Yeltsin and Armored Frog following us. Usually my experience has a lot more to do with the entire evening as a whole, but last night it was the time on stage that effected me deeply. Something just felt different. The energy on stage felt precise. It seemed that each of us were equally satisfied with the performance, which is rare. There have been performances that have made me leave the stage thinking 'that was amazing', pure rock n roll expression but this was different, somehow, simply satisfying. I was fed by Martha and Mrs. Random's energy most while on stage, their approving looks pushing me further into complete. Getting off stage, we were flooded with new compliments... it seems the practice that we've put in for the album is showing itself off. Also, I think that we are finally becoming a whole unit with our new drummer and maybe The Ovulators are finding their true sound.
It was great to also have Jeff Olsen of Dogwood Studios there, checking us out for our up coming recording date. His first comment was "we have to catch your interactions on the recording". Yeah for Jeff.

Breakfast with the Piss shivers

since NV and I are morning people, we're the ones kicking each member of The Piss Shivers crew off their chosen carpet space insisting we go nourish ourselves with eggs and potatoes. I missed the Piss Shivers last show in Eugene, but got the images blow by blow over my morning meal. It turns out it was a real wild one. The stories are full of sound effects mimmicing guitars: duh nuh nuh, duh nuh nuh, na na,na na. Busholini took over the stage and rocked four songs bare chested and ofcourse as in any great rock experience, lots of things were broken.

The trail of glitter leads to me.

been making flyers for the gig. Maybe you heard that the Shudders have broken up, once again ruining our attempt at the ultimate line up with the Ovulators and Yeltsin... I guess since we're married to The Shudders and having an affair with Yeltsin, it would be too much drama to play with both of them together. Oh, well, a dream that will not fruit...
word on the street is that The Shudders have decided to not break up, but just take a serious break. We'll see what happens. Maybe they just need a little therapy.
Anyhow, Armored Frog will be replacing the Shudders. It should still be a loving evening of hearts and lace and sweet stuff. Maybe some quivering too.

The Ovulators have booked recording studio time at Dogwood studios. We went out for a visit a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful in the night time, with trees and garden. Ofcourse, we were greeted first by a dog. Inside the studio, there is a wall covered with graffiti of local Eugene history... YOB, Spread Eagle, Toad in the Hole. I'll bring one of my special pens to tag up "the Ovulators". I'm excited, yet also in a haze of disbelief. We've been together nearly three years and it's our first time going into a studio to record an album.