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from mike baggetta:
"BIG EGO Records is putting out the 3rd mssv studio album On And On March 7, 2025! So to celebrate that music coming forth into the world we are getting back in The Boat and hitting a lot of towns in the US and, after that, some towns in the UK and Ireland for the very first time. I love bringing this music to life for everybody at the shows with hodges and watt every night. I tell people that ask what it's like to play in this band that it's kind of like hot wiring a car you built, putting a brick on the gas pedal and then hopping on top and holding on til the end of the ride. These guys are truly daring and adventurous and live the music on their sleeves every night, I can't help but be inspired to do the same. I've always done my best learning by doing and I have no shortage of opportunities here with them. I'm always thankful for all of them.
"A good thing about a band that gets to play together a lot is that you get to know each other's sounds and maybe even get some idea of what each other is capable of doing, choices we might make, the ways we change and evolve over the years, and ways to challenge each other musically, for the better. Another good thing about some bands, like mssv I think, is that we all get to be involved in a bunch of other music projects too. And that is cool because every different musical experience, well every experience in life too, not just music, feeds into influencing you with what you learned by doing that new proj, so that you can bring it back to the other musical proj (or life choice). All those new ideas, filtered through each person's aesthetic, then give your other bandmates new ideas on how to play and relate to the music and each other with everybody else, and give birth to all kinds of new musical ideas. That's how bands evolve I think... well, the one's that evolve anyways.
"Since the last mssv tour (Aki Tour 2023) I know that the 3 of us, me and hodges and watt, all have had a bunch of different types of musical experiences that are different from the music that I put together for us up until then, and I know that that is gonna influence this next batch of music. We'll play music from the new album On And On of course, but I also am cooking up a new batch of songs that are gonna be a little different from some of the stuff we've done before because of all that. I'm excited to hear it come together every night with all of you. See y'all out there real soon!"
(click here for tour flyer)
mssv
"haru tour 2025"
thu, mar 13 at the sardine
1101 s pacific av, san pedro, ca
san pedro, ca
fri, mar 14 at the wayfarer
843 w 19th st
costa mesa, ca
sat, mar 15 at the giant rock meeting room
1131 old woman springs rd
yucca valley, ca
sun, mar 16 at cibo pizzeria
603 n 5th av
phoenix, az
mon, mar 17 at whiskey creek zocalo
11786 hwy 180 east
silver city, nm
wed, mar 19 at the guild cinema
3405 central av ne
albuquerque, nm
thu, mar 20 at co-opt research + projects
4202 boston av
lubbock, tx
fri, mar 21 at resonant head
400 sw 25th st, ste a
oklahoma city, ok
sat, mar 22 at the wild detectives
314 w eighth st
dallas, tx
sun, mar 23 at the corn pound
6336 montgomery dr
san antonio, tx
mon, mar 24 at the continental club
3714 main st
houston, tx
tue, mar 25 at mid city ballroom
136 s acadian thruway
baton rouge, la
wed, mar 26 at the end of all music
3011 n state st
jackson, ms
thu, mar 27 at saturn
200 41st st s
birmingham, al
fri, mar 28 at the bark
507 all saints st
tallahassee, fl
sat, mar 29 at will's pub
1042 n mills av
orlando, fl
sun, mar 30 at loosey's
120 sw 1st av
gainesville, fl
mon, mar 31 at el rocko lounge
117 whitaker st
savannah, ga
tue, apr 1 at snug harbor
1228 gordon st
charlotte, nc
wed, apr 2 at flat iron
221 summit av
greensboro, nc
thu, apr 3 at pearl street warehouse
33 pearl st sw
washington dc
fri, apr 4 at solar myth
1131 s broad st
philadelphia, pa
sat, apr 5 at tubby's
586 broadway
kingston, ny
sun, apr 6 at the mercury lounge
217 e houston st
new york, ny
mon, apr 7 at myrtle
134 waterman av
east providence, ri
tue, apr 8 at nova arts
48 emerald st
keene, nh
wed, apr 9 at the monkey house
30 main st
winooski, vt
thu, apr 10 at angry mom records
115 the commons
ithaca, ny
fri, apr 11 at the lounge at revolution gallery
1419 hertel av
buffalo, ny
sat, apr 12 at the funhouse at mr smalls
400 lincoln av, 2nd floor
millvale, pa
sun, apr 13 at the beachland tavern
15711 waterloo rd
cleveland, oh
mon, apr 14 at ace of cups
2619 n high st
columbus, oh
tue, apr 15 at the state street pub
243 n state av
indianapolis, in
wed, apr 16 at the hideout
1354 w wabansia av
chicago, il
thu, apr 17 at the gammaray bar
121 w main s
madison, wi
fri, apr 18 at the turf club
1601 university av w
saint paul, mn
sat, apr 19 at gabe's
330 e washington st
iowa city, ia
sun, apr 20 at the recordbar
1520 grand bl
kansas city, mo
mon, apr 21 at the reverb lounge
6121 military av
omaha, ne
tue, apr 22 at the fisch haus
524 s commerce st
wichita, ks
wed, apr 23 at chelsea's
10 mountain st
eureka springs, ar
thu, apr 24 at the venue shrine
112 e 18th st
tulsa, ok
fri, apr 25 at the golden light cantina
2906 sw 6th av
amarillo, tx
sat, apr 26 at cocoon
1800 2nd street. santa fe
santa fe, nm
sun, apr 27 at the orpheum theater
15 w aspen av
flagstaff, az
mon, apr 28 at the griffin
511 fremont st
las vegas, nv
tue, apr 29 at jerry's pizza
1817 chester av
bakersfield, ca
wed, apr 30 at the torch club
904 15th st, sacramento, ca
sacramento, ca
thu, may 1 at the miniplex
900 samoa bl, arcata, ca
arcata, ca
fri, may 2 at bottom of the hill
1233 17th st
san francisco, ca
sat, may 3 at zebulon
2478 fletcher dr, silver lake, ca
los angeles, ca
thursday, march 13, 2025 - san pedro, ca
from mike:
First gig nerves give way
Upon seeing many friends
Old and new, we're off!
from hodge:
we always start mssv tours at the sardine in san pedro california. the wrinkling brothers were the opening band george hurley their drummer was rockin the house really strong he and watt were two thirds of the world renowned minutemen along with may he rest in peace d boon. there were lots fine folks in the house a full house lots of support for us, much appreciation... it's nice to start there for us cali guys cause we get to do gigs but sleep at home and that means we get an extra day to get organized to leave on tour for good. actually we get two days this time around tomorrow is costa mesa. chris schlarb our producer and record company owner of "big ego" recorders was there with a whole lot of vinyl of our new record. ahh also in attendance was matt crane our buddy great drummer and percussionist. i love driving back to long beach from pedro you get to drive over two major league bridges.
from watt:
pop at three in the morning which is actually a little for me these days at age sixtyseven. it ain't like I'm running a konk deficit cuz I usually am out around five or six. 805 days w/out alcohol (the most since I was a teenager), this is where I am and in fact healthier than I've been in years. part of the (besides the obvious reason) is cooking 'pert-near all my own chow and I cook up some ground turkey w/some chicken livers, onions, garlic, ginger, celery, zucchini, jalapeno (all fresh) w/some broccoli that was frozen, do it saute style in one pan w/olive oil. I'm most grateful to my ma for feeding me all this stuff when I was a kid and my pop for his experimenting w/putting stuff in pancake batter (edible stuff) - getting into chowing what you cook cuz you honestly dig it and also know you can make it as healthy as you can. cutting sugar way way out (only drink water and only right-after-poppin awake coff).
anyway, today's the start of mssv "haru tour 2025" and like the last few tours I've recently done, it starts in pedro so instead of a motherfuckin hellride, it's at the sardine which is about thirteen blocks or something away from my pad? prolly and most bitchin, truly. took a buttloads of tours to figure that, I think think is my seventysecond? prolly... anyway, first three gigs are in cali, yatta!
mssv jefe mike baggetta arrived in so cal eight days ago but the prac the scheduled for the next day w/me and hodge had to be scissored cuz my prac pad at the angles gate cultural center (got the longest lease there now: thirtyeight years) lost power cuz of some transformer-blow but at least the rain that came w/it put out the resulting fire. crimony. life sure can get the "mixed bag" think goin, huh? luckily, my secondman organman peetzo who built _casa hanzo_ in the back of his pad came to the rescue w/letting us prac there so we lost only one day. that gave us six days to learn the six new tunes mike wrote for us and get half of the eight that are on the album we'er promoting ("on and on" on big ego records) plus the other side of a split seven inch we did w/charlotte's thousand dollar movie plus two of my requests, richard hell's "another world" and mike's own "human reaction" for the closer. thirteen tunes but you know what? this band's been going now for what, since 2019? yeah, I think we can do it. it's also a way to get to prac the tunes for the next album, the same we've done the previous two, record them the day after the last gig (in this case that'll be fiftytwo in fiftytwo days) which is righteous idea and I dig it much.
the 'dine boss toddski (he's got a proj w/me called the jumpstarted plowhards w/drummerman jimmy) said to wait 'til six to show up so that's what I do. miss hioyri's been a week here to from hamburg in germany. chris schlarb from big ego's here to help mike w/some schlep. openers tonight are the wrinkling brothers led by joe dean who's got who I think is one of the all-time great stickmen, george hurley - so great to see him... we got have a good time w/lots of spiel like eleven months ago while filming some trippy thing for a netfix show. love georgiegeorgie, really do. tonian (of the band bazooka and the pair of pliers) is here too, to blow sax for them so it's two trios in pedro at the 'dine tonight to get this tour lit. all right.
soundman adam checks us after I get a trio of some happening al pastor tacos from the coche katty-corner of the 'dine in "ray deeter's tire town" lot and I'm way fortified now to do my best for everyone involved tonight, much gracias. fuckin really sabor. I get right in front of georgie at the front of the stage... so glad joe dean doesn't have him "the cat in the rear w/all the gear" which is the biggest mistake I think the minutemen ever made, I shit thee not. georgie tears it up, fucking way happening and he's rockin some dw drums even though he digs his old premiers more, these more easy fit in his ride - oh yeah, he lives in carson these days, near the harbor freeway. man, I can't thank him enough for getting me going so the nervous stuff doesn't overwhelm like it does when I'm starting a tour... actually I owe him for buttloads of stuff, I truly shit thee not. joe dean and vince do good also. big time thank yous to the wrinkling brothers!
our turn is next and we go on a quarter hour before the nine bell scheduled time. I got my tour outfit on: of course levis and chuck taylors but way different is this coat my sister melinda made me from photos on the internet of the coat patrick mcgoohan wore in his tv show "the prisoner" which ran for seventeen episodes from 1966-67 - my all-time favorite tv show, absolute! anyway, using infos and photos from the internet she put this coat together from scratch, cut and sewed it, did great and I love it. she got me a "mock turtle neck" shirt to go under it, never wore before but my pop did, ain't that a trip?! anyway, man, I love that show mr mcgoohan did and have watched and analyzed every episode of it. this is a great inspiring tour outfit for me, can't thank my sister melinda enough for it, absolute. fits real good too and feels substantial - is that word? well, wearing this outfit really gives the confidence to do my best for mike and hodge - I ain't using _any_ charts or crutches like that - hell, I use one of those to hobble cuz of bad port-side knee (born w/bof bad people though surgeries in my early twenties helped, one side got wore out but hey, I got no pain and that's big) and don't wanna get on this for mssv, those days are over - either I sink or swim and I do sink one tune, crimony if I wasn't one lost motherfucker but I get all the others. mike's built in a lot of improv parts but the way the band is "conversing" during those moments/periods/interludes I mostly lay out or "stroll" - like I've read it was said during john coltrane's time. jim bergantino just gave me a voicing for my forte hp that I'm really digging or an organic level. I got some probs w/our dynamics (or lack there of) but fuck, it's the shakedown cruise! actually, we did ok maybe... the gig-goers at the 'dine were positive on us. much respect to them, truly. we broke the water, the tour is on! thank you much good people here in pedro tonight to help us bring the "head-out" moment.
georgie comes up to me while I'm trying to get straight what I fucked up in that new tune I was just chimping about - of course, I'm all about that moments after our last note. crimony. I am so glad georgie's here, so glad and I tell him. it means a lot he's here and I feel real fortunate. I feel I owe mike better and work on but damn if it ain't really happening that georgie's here. I do big long spiel w/tonian also, lots of stuff regarding our _tone scientists_ future round, lots of music stuff. of course I'm still on the stage, sitting in the chair toddski's got here which I dig much playing on. yeah, me doing gigs standing up is past stuff now and that's very ok. georgie's sitting fucking down and he's kicking up much dust - I wanna be like him! I get to talk to a lot of people, get to thank my sister melinda for the coat. laurie's here from cornelius proj, kid kevin from cali mucho's (him and missingmen drummerman raul's printing company) here - one cat from san jose brought his daughter that now lives here, crimony. brother damon from nomad eel records is here, wants poems from me to release, I will bring more. weba and husband mark's here - he was in chinas comidas and I had their little four song record when it came out, saw them at the hong konk cafe a bunch including that new years eve gig they did w/johanna went (not the singer but the cats are on the insrruments - mark was on keys) and germs, I wrote about me and joe baiza going to that ("drove up from pedro"), so good to see him but I also got confused some... brother steve reed helps w/my stuff schlep... we got a proj called _steel sense_ (you know about the 1943 penny, correct? I got one! my pop had me collecting pennies when I was a boy, put them in the those books) and we're gonna tour next year, just drums and bass. can't wait. he's the best, I love this man
it's around midnight when I konk... I 'pert-near never do that these days but that's what the sitch calls for. actually I konked later last week at a hellride gig w/peter and perk for todd at the mint in midtown. one life is many gigs, huh? this tour is now on...
friday, march 14, 2025 - costa mesa, ca
from mike:
Last feel of home gig
These familiar places
Big thanks, Brad Davis!
from hodge:
this is a bigger room fairly large stage we have played here several times. they feed us good chow very kind. it was still raining thank goodness we need the water! i left a bag of my merch t shirts there by accident of course ouch! gotta call them see if some kind soul put them aside. i guess i am not really in the mood to open my soul about clams that i am making on this amazing material that mike baggetta has written suffice to say slowly but surely my grasp of it all is improving... back to the 405 fwy north still raining.
from watt:
pop at five which is way late for "domestic watt" (landlubber) but now we're talking "tour watt" (seadog) so "swerve to avoid mode" then, correct? we don't try to tell the wind which way to blow but we do have some say in where to face the sails. I cook up salmon w/zucchini, brussel sprouts, greenbeans, onions, garlic, jalapenos and celery in my usual saute way, fuckin diggin it.
I'm chimping diary entry actually sunday out in the desert before we shove off for 'zona... ain't it like that about a tour coming up and that "event" (the time a tour's coming up) seems like a magnet that attracts all kinds of stuff threatening its most to fuck things up for you making a happening sally-forth begin... everything 'pert-near "conspiring" (of course not reality, just seems like it) to foul shit up 'pert-near as much as possible! crimony. I do manage to get things here in pedro shipshape for my departure... my sister melinda (who also lives in pedro) will get my mail, I got the green sack here ready for her to stuff it w/stuff I get while I'm gone. thank god for my sister melinda, truly.
the gig tonight is at a pad I've done many times now, getting up there as maybe the venue in orange county I've done the most? crimony. it's the wayfarer in the corner of a strip mall in costa mesa and damn if I don't find a parking spot right in front, yes! parked in the back last time I was here, fuck that... "live and learn," correct? the gig boss eric is very cool people and comes right up to me while still at the wheel and we rap a bunch, catch up on some of this pad's history, when it was called "club mesa" and then "diesel" - all before he arrived but he's hip and aware - he even knows about the "cukcoo's nest" not too far away from days preceding this pad, kind of an "origin pad" of the orange county scene. right in front of the boat is a mexican chowpad called "la lomita" which is were I've shoveled at and dug much but I'm gonna hold out for tacos from the gig pad - I got a memory from last time about it being happening. we check w/soundman frank who is very cool people... damn if I ain't got the same "throne-type" seat for my crippled-up ass, love it. after the check I chow these fish tacos from the kitchen and damn if they ain't happening, love em! I see the cook man at his hatch from where I'm shoveling and give him the "most grateful" sign, he smiles. humans can at times be righteous for each other, correct? I go to the boat to chimp about the cherry gig at the 'dine...
bixby und basil are the openers I hear later but I'm sorry to tell you I missed them, watt does a lot of this on tour, miss the openers... didn't miss last night though, propped my ass up right in front of georgie for him to give me a face full of drums. bof mike and hodge told me they were an "improvising duet" which sounds interesting - our set contains (on mike's direction) a lot of improvised sections and I can't tell you enough how much influence that tour w/chris corsano and joe baiza last fall had on me... we did seventeen gigs w/out doing one fucking "tune" (meaning pre-composed and prac'd up parts), I shit thee not! our turn is eight pm (love it being early, love it!) and the gig-goers are most kind from the first, bringing it right away. whoa, I'm surprised some but actually really grateful and inspired - "beginning of tour jitters" always plague me but I got more calm than expected which is happening. of course though, some clams are still blown by me - I get the "no words" form correct but try to bring it a tune early in the set like a baka, damn me! hodge has an interesting take on that bambino, he never let's go of his solo part and rides the whole thing to the coda! mike laughs. it's a good gig though hodge has in mike's words "gotta own the forms" which is stuff I've learned much from him - of course I did it w/the porno for pyro guys, j and his fog plus stooges big time but I think I was leaning on "chart crutches" too much w/mssv and big time want the only crutch in my life the one I use to hobble on and not something that's w/me on stage when I'm trying to part of some kind of artistic expression, just don't wanna do it and would rather fall down some to help that along rather than leaning of fuckin "training wheels" forever cuz I think that's what can happen.
teej came up from san diego for the gig and helps w/my speakerbox but then keeps it from me, not realizing it doubles as my "walker" to get me to the boat. don't mean to be rude cuz he's a good cat. outside the boat I have much spiel w/many bass wraslers, crimony! I relate my "getting to play the cream eb-3 of jack bruce spiel" plus info on the last bass leo worked on before he sold fender to cbs (fender V) plus rap about tav falco w/a guy from mississippi... gonna play jackson this tour - it's been a while. we have a good laugh about "tal's dart bar" in hattiesburg, good pad. the tour's first first boat-packs always take a bit more to get the tetris trip wrung out so there's ample spiel time w/these most kind gig-goers... I operate the fore part of the boat, the rest of the crew that aft stuff except for me bringing my amp and speakerbox from the gig pad post-gig. it's good to piece the work out I think.
well, I fuckin foul up and add a half hour to the trip home but we still are in separate rides - mike in a rental and staying in sliver lake, hodge w/his ford transit (a big tall one) at his pad in long beach but still, dropping anchor in my pedro town eleven after eleven ain't too bad. I dig easing into a tour this way, kind of trippy...
saturday, march 15, 2025 - yucca valley, ca
from mike:
Late arrive, quick moves!
tough music work on stage too
Desert cold, quiet
from hodge:
right near joshua tree where several friends live peter & elizabeth fahey, danny & mimi frankel jill markey the list goes on victoria williams. the late great juke logan. lots of the old black and white westerns were shot out in joshua tree. if you look at the ceiling in pappy and harriet's you will see some beautiful old beam construction classic. to me this defines the feeling of the area combined with the joshua trees and otherworldly rock formations. also got to hang after the gig with jessie payo and her very cool pal carlo. jessie and i have made some records together, @big ego once again the chris schlarb "big ego" recorders connection.
from watt:
pop at five but laying the blankies for fortyfive minutes cuz of icebox conditions beyond them. my first konk of the tour on the air mattress and it was most bitchin, I was out like that and stayed out the whole fucking konk, my body thanking me much for the rest, truly. saturday's are "pasta day" for watt, the one day I week I chow pasta to help scissor sugar in my fucking life which has improved my health buttloads, I shit thee not. I use brown rice penne pasta w/italian sausage, zucchini, onions, garlic, celery, jaoapeno, and frozen edamame (not in the pods) all done up saute'd but do use another pan to boil the pasta in before the combine - the only time I cook ever w/more than one pan. it's a big reason I cook most my own chow is cuz I make it easy and not an ordeal - the same goes for backing up the 'puter stuff: make it simple and it'll get done way more regular and become part of your regular "structure" or whatever and not a once-in-a-while fuckin bullshit "stunt" sort of jive, capito? I do a spiel for kornel in zagreb and the band he's in called shumski that I'm glad to do, they're a trip and I've played every tune he's flowed me on https://www.twfps.com/">the watt from pedro show - damn if in may it'll be twentyfour years I've been getting to do that, can't thank bill and eric of sightworks for making that happen, most truly, really great cats. I get steve abercrombie the spiel he wanted - the only thing I didn't get done is the three of robin htach tunes she wrote for our _in the bus back_ proj, we got stuff for the initial three where I went first, my turn now but it'll have to wait. robin was on keys for the pfp tour me and her helped those guys w/thirteen months ago... damn, I just looked and saw the last gig's spiel from me is missing for it, what? damn me for fuckin that up, damn me... I gotta at least put an entry, crimony! it's just blank after the date... fuck!
bail at three for long beach to get hodge and mike - this turns out to ge an hour too late actually. not cuz of them but I should've buffered in the usual hour I do when guessing at one time the journey to the gig for the day begins, again: damn me. mike dropped his rental car at long beach airport, near where hodge lives and then they go to hodge's buddy jeff's pad to drop his boat off at cuz of his domestic sitch. what happens is taking the I-10 and ca-60 east to yucca valley is plagued w/plug und stau. crimony. we arrive alive but it's seventy minutes past when we're supposed to... openers 100 flowers are soundcheck here at the big rock meeting room, the gig part still a work in progress but further along then when I was here back in the fall w/chris corsano and joe baiza. so good to see original the urinalmen john, kevin and kejhl - love these cats truly. I can't relate strong enough how much they influenced us minutemen, just can't. we thought their
ack ack ack ack was so econo that we had do it even more by cutting out bof an "ack" in the title and a verse in the actual tune... later john would make what would be our last video of it. crimony. love what he did, big time love it. man, would it be something for d boon to be here now, us getting to share the stage w/the urinals, it would've tripped him I'm thinking cuz I know it's that's what it's doing to me. crimony. oh, to explain: the present day urinals have rob on guitar and that's why they use the '100 flowers' name for this version, make sense to me!
there's a cat here who teaches and wants to talk to me about books and literature so I and in return he gets me a pastrami sandwich that's made up front, closer to the road. it's good, the bread having good crunch and lots of mustard which I dig - my favorite condiment next to chili sauce. love the tart think, you know. I got a five liter jug of balsamic vinegar in kitchen after discovering part of cooking chow is chemistry. cindy bernard's here also, she lives out this way but went to san pedro high and graduated there in 1976 (same w/d boon and georgie), I ain't seen cindy in a long time but do have a bookshelf she gave me - she says can't remember giving it to me but she did. she says I look skinny like I was in high school, ain't that a trip? how many people do you meet from high school actually? so glad I still know georgie... cindy too! I get a chair right up front for 100 flowers and really get into their set, every fuckin note and beat. john's a real percussive bassman using a pick - lots of that verses lots of finger frets which I think in a lot of ways is stupid on bass where I'm coming from - I've learned that instead of a "four string guitar" like clowns used to preach to me, bass is more of a "four string drum set" and try to put that philosophy more and more into practice - john does it w/drummerman kevin real good, like one unit and I love it... have always been inspired by it. love kjehls guitar work also (I am not anti-guitar!) which again is a lot about the hand strumming and not fretting. it's really apparent when I am surprised out of my mind when they do their version of a minutemen tune d boon wrote called "courage" - crimony! for me, hearing a minutemen song done like one from the urinals causes my mind to be fully blown it and flies out the top of my head (which immediately morphed into a stovepipe), crimony w/out end! it's beautiful and makes my eyes big time water up. whoa, georgie last night and these cats tonight - what a way for a minuteman to start a tour!
our turn at nine and a half. very kind gig-goers here us here in yucca valley, very kind. something's up w/the sound of hodge's kick drum though and bogarts everything, I gotta go into braille mode. crimony. "swerve to avoid" (meaning here "don't panic") cuz we're working a room. I've found you've gotta tell yourself what you're experiencing might not be what the gig-goers are and also the simple fact you got in for free and they didn't so try you fucking hardest not to be a pendejo, all self-centered and shit. the sound does improve - I know the soundman harout from bof doing a gig and recording an album w/him w/the corsano baiza watt trio and he's a really good cat. for third gig of the tour, we're making progress. I got hodge constantly in my view and am trying my best to be like what john just sounded like w/kevin before us, as a unit - doing it for mike and his music cuz it deserves what me and hodge can bring for him, I believe sincerely.
we load the boat up, I get the good word from many kind gig-goers - oh, john from 100 flowers takes some photos of my forte hp amp and nxt212 speakerbox, he says he was digging it - crimony, I would've never imagined this back in the old days this would happen, blows me big time away and can't stop from tripping on that. I get to talk w/kjehl too and his daughter takes our photo, he gives me his new ciroladians record, most kind of him. wow, what a night for me this way. even though derek monypenny (tonight's gig organizer) couldn't make it, I'm so grateful for him getting all this happening.
about five miles down the road is that same pad I konked in last fall w/chris corsano and joe baiza. it's still just as cold and still a work in progress but I'm way into it being there for us. this blankie called the "cookie monster" helps w/the cold stuff. first konk of the tour away from my pad and konk comes quick...
sunday, march 16, 2025 - phoenix, az
from mike:
love these desert walks
al fresco gig, band improves
good talks with krass, cris
from hodge:
matt krassner's dining establishment and concert venue cibo, what great food what a great guy! matt and i have worked together at big ego studio for different artists that he has produced. he doesn't do concerts all the time more like special occasions. he had a really interesting opening band they had old school reel to reel tape recorders that played really interesting ambience sounds noises and some distortions. and then in front of it all mica played acoustic guitar and sang really moody sounds and words. my son tadj was there and his buddy family friend mike. so great to see them good vibes. we started our set and lo and behold there is a girl in the front row who is chatting away with who she was with like she's at starbucks, having some girl talk time. when mike is singing we are playing quietly she is front row talking louder than the band is playing people who love the band paid good money sold out crowd. there have been times when we have said shut up to a talker here or there. for some reason we were not calling her out. finally in boat song a very quiet song. mike started whispering his words she's still not getting it, we got so quiet barely audible finally i think one brave soul nudged her and she looked me straight in the eyes i held my drumstick to lips in the universal signal for quiet then she got the deer in the headlights look and stopped talking you could hear the whole crowd almost a sigh of relief.
from watt:
just before one we cross the colorado river which is also the border and bye-bye cali for how long? long enough... hello arizona! first "flying mascis" of the tour and I can't resist the $2.90/gallon and join fuckin butt-long pile-on to get the cheap gas... actual reason is for a piss stop for hodge, I promise him every two hours I'd stop and it's been two and a half but there was nothing - the piss stop is for me too (I'm only five years younger) but I got the piss bottle, only need to dock the boat and I luck out after mike fills us up and find a slot by the a 'tel that's right next door, then I fill that bottle I just spoke of w/some kidney-filtered body temperature. onward eastward on I-10, real good weather and not too hot. some pendejos driving like pendejos but not too many - there were more yesterday in cali. crimony, I wish could get that more together as a people sharing this road w/have in common, help each other arrive alive and safe. for the first time hodge says he hears from the usb stick stuck into the boat's sound trip (all the tunes from my ipod and later) lord buckley who's doing his riff on "a christmas carol" from mr dickens and for the first time this tour we hear john coltrane, his "dear lord" - we're bound to hear more cuz I like four hundred-something of his stuff.
at three and half in downtown phoenix I get us to cibo pizzeria which is an italian chowpad where we're gonna play tonight. soon the gig boss michael arrives - he went to the "new music mondays" nels cline used to put at "the alligator lounge" on in west l.a. so I know he's had some so cal time. I think he works guitar too. nice man, he informs us we're playing "al fresca" - outside and the gig is "clean" - he doesn't use that old vaudeville word for "sold out" but I do. a righteous setting for the first sunday gig of tour and we're gonna hit at seven and a half which I love - the earlier the better at my age, correct? the whole band has a good rap w/the gig boss michael, he's very friendly. I chow a pizza that has good stuff and not as bad as most u.s. pizza I've had... don't really eat pizza here in my land much any more. I put on new strings, andy at d'addario was very kind to flow (d boon used d'addario strings so that means much to watt), I've been digging for gigs these "nyxl" kind they got in a lighter gauge, 95-75-60-40 cuz it suits more my way of playing at this point in my journey... only thing I wish is that they had them for short scale cuz of the windings you gotta do on, I ain't a fan of cutting strings, won't do it. speaking of which, I've long thought of a 34" scale version of my reverend guitars wattplower but now have decided against it cuz I like working my thirty inch version... and not just for gigs! there's a yellow one I got at my pad I use for now for all my recordings I do there, I experimented by replacing the neck pickup w/what recently curtis novak made just for me: his bisonic/dark star put in a paf case. I in turn put it in series w/a dummy coil in the control cavity and just love it. I've been using the neck pickup for this mssv tour in my brown root beer candy apple flake wattplower which is rio grande "pit bull" dave wentz designed and made - really think it fits mike's stuff and goes good w/hodge's 1970 camco drums, really do. anyway, I'm not really recording w/my three other 34" scale basses, love them dearly but my hands are less younger and I'm really digging the sound. me and joe naylor (designman at reverend guitars) have been talking about the "mark III" version... it'll be an evolution but a 34" scale ain't part of it. ok, we check soundman dario who's a very cool people and then I go konk in the boat, I'm tuckered.
a trio named the dailey brothers (one of them is caleb dailey) are the openers but I'm sorry to say I totally missed them cuz of the much-needed konk I did during their set... crimony, I wish I was more strong. the boat was right behind them though so maybe they helped w/a "bath" of their sounds. we're to hit at seven and a half which I love and get their five minutes before - hodge was worried it seemed but I had everything ready from soundcheck cuz those most kind dailey brothers let it be for me, much respect to them. I clam some in the opening tune but rally right after, my focus is so much better these days, I shit thee not. it doesn't conquer totally the nerves thing but it does give me resources I think since about 2016 I was kind of going a little downhill w/and not just gigs but w/recording too. crimony. I think putting a plug in the jug really helped w/that, really do. best gig yet of the tour for me tonight and the phoenix gig-goers helped much w/that except for one lady right in front of hodge who was yammering the whole time. in fact, hodge takes some time to explain that to her when we finish. the band kept focused but she did make it tough, right up front and all loud/oblivious in our most tiny parts. crimony. kind of a shame also cuz in some part we really got the dynamics down - we still got work to do on the whole enchilada but I feel we're making good progress. I'm trying my best to work w/hodge so we bof can help mike w/his music be the best it can be. I really got more of a sense of "the big picture" w/mssv in the moment now and that helps me to be more available for hodge, like kind of a "living script" for him w/cues which also big time helps me also cuz it keeps real alert right in the moment, I'm digging it. everything just seems to cook better tonight, so fucking right on when you get this feeling after a gig, can't tell you how much it brings watt joy.
I pack my stuff up and bring it over to the boat - of course people are clueless and wanna take away my walker/speakerbox but I won't let them. they try to fuckin pull it away from me even, thinking they're "helping" but only laming out what I really am trying to do. of course I would ask for help if I needed it - and I do when I do but... why do some people try to foist on me some fuckin kind of control trip and attempt to take over my life, why? I do not wanna be rude but this is fuckin not happening. so much energy to explain this and of course I wanna express my gratitude for being there for us at the gig but not for this fucking manhandling of me, I just don't fuckin dig it, no. leave me be, please! bassbrother cris kirkwood is here and he's beautiful, I love this man. he tells me about when he was nineteen going on twenty and doing bass for the feeders, his first "road" gigs and I'm digging hearing about it, love his spiels and you know what also? he asks me to do a sideproj w/him, yes! fuck yeah!
several kind gig-goers ask for photos and to sign stuff, I'm most happy to. I use my own marker, I'm glad people let me. this trying to control situations some people bring - I've found I gotta right away make clear that that ain't happening but that don't mean I'm a dick or trying to be one, really I mean that. I'm also very into explaining this "the prisoner" coat my sister melinda made me (from scratch, every bit of it!) that I'm wearing this tour, very indebted to patrick mcgoohan learned me w/this expression of him - there's a great website from england called the unmutual that could explain way more than I can and is a righteous resource for all things regarding those seventeen episodes from 1966-67, right when I was coming from virginia to cali - what timing! didn't even know it was in color 'til I got the dvd collection... color televisions were very expensive and we didn't have one in navy housing in pedro... I didn't have 'til in my own pad there, year after high school (us minutemen graduated pedro high in 1976).
again brother matthew of the zine "fluke" is most kind to let us konk at his pad and I get the boat over there, we drop anchor before ten pm, most righteous! air mattress inflated and into my rilakkuma nightwear. our whole team is sharing his living room, very comfortable. first out-of-cali gig of the tour was a good one and so kind of brother matthew for providing tonight's setting for the final act: a good safe konk pad for bof us and the boat.
monday, march 17, 2025 - silver city, nm
from mike:
Light sleep, desert drive
Massage table sunset nap
Better gig, cute dogs
from hodge:
this was a very cool venue you can tell they had put alot of work into it. nice restrooms and great food. the owners had dogs that they brought to work and they allowed patrons to bring in their dogs too, i think the dogs had to pass a get along inspection prior to gaining entrance. we got to stay at the home of the owner jeff. it was way way out on a dirt we followed slowly behind jeff. when we arrived there was this amazing adobe house that jeff had built, talk about a solid building pretty sure he said the walls were 26" thick, warm in the winter cool in the summer. amazing to think this one man built every inch of the dwelling by him self. they had two dogs and they spent most of the night with me, by morning they had moved to a new spot but it very sweet to have the company of such peaceful creatures.
from watt:
pop at five. try to use the moka-pot coff brother matthew told me about last night but it produces nothing but hot water for me... miss hiyori has more success later w/the french press dealio he's also got. in the meantime I'm in the dark, just contemplating stuff. daylight arrives and brother matthew cooks us up little carnitas burritos, I have two. we talk a some about arkansas - he was from little rock and my pop's pop bb was from earle, talk about memphis on the other side of the big river also, we bof dig tav falco and he lived there a while.
we shove off at nine and a half, thank brother matthew much for his kindness. I get us I-10 east which goes south actually a bunch to get us to tucson... ten after eleven, a little north of there I pull us over at tangerine rodad to fuel the boat at a "qt" for $2.82/gallon, hodge does his first windshield cleanse cuz finally there's a pad w/a squeegee. I fill the piss bottle w/brother matthew's coff my body's now processed, kind of a short stay but his burritos are still being worked on. miss hiyori gets me ensalata, can chow nuts every day and the leafy stuff I've been lately chow big time at home and it's been helping w/digest things for me. iceberg lettuce so lame though when you can get nice healthy heads of arugula at the two mercados I go to in pedro for $1.19 each, feels real healthy when I chow that, usually I mix it w/cut up cabbage and onions using oil and vinegar for dressing - man, does it make me correct! well, you make do, correct? we try our best. this I-10 route through 'zona has a lot less traff (which translates less pinche pendejos endangering everyone's life w/fucked-up lame driving) than more north on I-40, I've travelled it so much less but it's really pretty - the other way is too but maybe I'm less curious cuz more familiar? that's a fucked-up habit, no way to live, huh? I should try and stomped that shit out regarding me, something (among buttloads of other stuff) to work on... note to self. I ain't gonna talk about that bullshit pad that's got tons of signs on the taunt for "the thing" - well, I just did... mr tom in pittsburgh show me photos he got of it and man, when I saw those I'm so glad I never once stopped to check that jive shit out. crimony, why not get an exhibit going about real stuff from around these parts, the culture or nature or whatever that makes it unique? like ig says, "I want more!" huh? I get us over the border and into new mexico twenty of two, we lose an hour. the weather's good which is happening when you see all these signs warning of dust storms that for sure are prolly fuckin dangerous as all hell when they're saying to pull over and stay buckled up... a billboard saying "wait until the dust settles" along w/a url take5stayalive.com - scary stuff, reality manifested as weather. you can't unthink it unless you dig bathing in arrogant mode (maybe too many do?!). we lose an hour... not to far down the road is lordsburg and we fuel up the boat at a "circle k" for $2.97/gallon, giving lenny bruce a break from explaining to us how the church and the stage works from the usb stick dealio this boat's got. after a blow by and the loop to correct we get off the interstate and head for silver city which is another fortyfive miles northeast. this'll be my first time in this town ever, I ask mike about the connect he had w/this gig and it turns out it's my buddy will hamilton, (here's a piece about him) have konked at his pad after many atlanta gigs... small world! I get us to the gig pad, right on time for load-in at four and a half, it's called the whiskey creek zocalo and the co-owner rafael is there to help us out, he's very cool people and that pad itself has real one-of-a-kind artistic feel repurposed from stuff prolly usually found in a smaller out-of-the way town, nothing "strip mall" about here. I'm in a side room w/all kinds artistic things repurposed from other stuff. his ma brings me meatball sandwich and a salad while he tells me this has mining history that's still going, a couple huge copper open-pit land-scar type of trips. apache lived here but way before them were mimbres... oh yeah, then the arrival of overseas outsiders, the conquistadors w/mining for gold, can't forget that. we soundcheck w/soundman joe - I ask mike to change our soundcheck tune to one I've been clamming on to help w/me getting that together, very kind of him to help me out w/that. this is the way to be a good rudderman for a band, much respect. I go back to that room I chowed in and chimp diary... on the way I see a basket of chingaderas, hmm... percussion chingaderas... for hodge! I got a plan for tonight...
no opener, we're in band alone mode - my first time ever playing in silver city, nm... I get the first tune all the way good, success! however, I am seated a little too far back to make it easy for hodge to give me the look-sees we need to help mike help mssv bring it, though the silver city gig-goers give us great warmth right off the bat (most grateful to them), note to self about setting up for future gigs on the tour. gig five sees (hears?) us improving, getting it together on so many levels. the new strings on my bass make it a little too bright but that's what the tone knob's for it and I work it much. I remember "set and forget" when more younger, just fuckin wide open actually... trippy how you change w/your journey, more sensitive to stuff you never had a notion about. crimony. I look down at the deck near hodge and notice there's none of the five or so chingaderas I suggested to him for the fuckin gig, what? during one of the improv interludes, I hobble off my side of the stage and get them fuckin chingaderas - actually for the first time in my life I work a vibroslap - I've seen them for years and years but never knew how they operated but hodge spoke to me earlier about holding the metal part and slapping the wood ball... fuck, I always thought that was the part you were supposed to hold on to! what a fuckin baka. anyway, I do just what he learned me verbally, "learning by doing" - correct? crimony, does it have a trippy sound... I recognize big time from many records I've heard before... it's 'pert-near like getting to "look behind the curtain" - remember frank morgan in the "wizard of oz" w/his "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" spiel? crimony! it's a eureka-moment for watt... and it happened here in silver city, nm. crimony.
great gig, my favorite yet of the tour... a cat I find out later to be this pad's co-owner, jeff, says I can have this vibraslap, wow, most kind of him! I'm gonna use it every night of the tour now, every gig - just gotta make sure it don't get donated. I don't think I've ever been a percussion-man at a gig, unless you consider bass a kind of percussion trip which I am coming to believe it is more and more as I get less younger. I heard hodge spieling on his leash on the ride here to someone back at his pad to mail him some of his own percush chingaderas - ain't that a trip? 'pert-near like silver city knew what was happening to help welcome us, huh? crimony.
turns out we're conking at co-owner jeff's pad, most kind of him. giant kindness also from co-owner rafael - bof these cats are most bitchin and so are the gig-goers who rap w/me after. one asks about chow in my pedro town - he lived there, had a pad he says right near "busy bee market" is up on walker and twentyfourth - roast pork w/mustard, onions and pepperoncinis is my favorite sandwich from there but of course I gotta tell him about "enchilada house" and "la perla tapatia" close to where I live (more north). this cat knows an ironworker from canada, a guitarman named shane - georgie played blues w/him... crimony, small world - lots of connects, lovei it! a bassbrother named nick brought his fender p for me to sign and he learns me about this town and his journey here from phoenix to have more peace in his mind, I can dig it. john and suzu drove all the way from tucson to see us, I help john load in my speakerbox, him following direction very well. so kind of them bof to make such a journey, truly. behind the wheel and waiting for the boat's load-up of the other stuff, another local who was originally a whittier (so cal inland empire) cat hips me to more silver city lore, love learning about towns I play, love it but wish I got his name, he's very cool people and has a good way of rappin. he's got a leno he never lights but that's good cuz I scissored mota two days before new years day 2025. coff now is the only droga I use. crimony... all the days past maybe add up to now? "it's not where you're from, it's where you're at" said sly stone. amen.
we follow co-owner rafael to co-owner jeff's pad who built it out of mud himself and fuckin righteous. very good work! I hose off and get my nightwear, inflate the mattress after moving some chairs and a small table, right on the mud-made deck. it's a real good feel and I'm out way quick. crimony. a pad w/a good feel always helps that.
tuesday, march 18, 2025 - albuquerque, nm
from mike:
Walk up the mountain
Gig called by dust storm, Deming
Greeted by yuki
from hodge:
wednesday, march 19, 2025 - albuquerque, nm
from mike:
Clutch boat help from Barnes
We play two shows, Jeremy
and Heather: BIG thanks!
from hodge:
wow what an amazing couple of days this one was! first off we get to stay with our dear pals heather and jeremy's house. first off it was going to be two days of gigs at the guild cinema run by our buddy keif. but due to extremely high winds causing very dangerous dust storms we had to forgo the fist night of performance. we doubled up two shows on the second night. back to heather and jeremy they have the coolest two dogs a big white one and a little brown one. so friendly and loving amazing they are.
the gig was jam packed with talent! heather and jeremy/ a hawk and a hacksaw electric violin and zaboomba and some accordion just amazing musicians such a great feel lots of heart and soul combined with excellent musicianship.
then you have my old pal eric mingus what a voice like paul robeson power and depth amazing! and his message is personal and very deep. also very to the point of the in justice and imbalance of our society. extremely compelling blew my mind!!! much love and respect to eric mingus.
don't let me forget how we jeremy baggetta and i repaired the broken shelf in the van/boat. couple trips to the hardware store and it's back strong again. apparently the weight of our merch found a weak spot in the grain of the wound that held up our top shelf that doubles our storage space. a 2x4 and some liquid nails and a whole lot of dry wall screws and boom we are back to our normal packing of all the everything gear and merch.
also on the show was the poet photographer mark weber really great to hear his fine fine word smithing.
from watt:
tuesday I popped at seven, nice long konk... I was needing it. great weather outside the windows but a little rough for a cripple like me to go hobbling around... jeff's pad is a couple miles down an unpaved road and pretty much "out there" which I dig... great rapping w/him, he makes me coff. I get the diary up too, enough time w/shove off being for noon... rafael comes by to lead me out to the highway... bye bye to most kind jeff and his two beautiful dogs, man if they didn't have content spirit about them that was so infectious and healthy on me, I shit thee not. won't forget them or that vibroslap jeff gave me, same w/rafael, what great cats here in sliver city.
I take us east on us-180 and not far is a town called hurley - yes! what's also trippy is not soon after getting past there (it's a tiny town) I start noticing the sky kind of "yellow up" which is to say kind of filling up w/dirt from the deck, dust? I say "dirt" cuz "dust" sounds so tiny and this is more and more as visibility goes like fuckin tule fog, I shit thee not. ain't it trippy how I was trippin on those take5stayalive.com signs on I-10 yesterday - fuckin very much a trip cuz it's way a reality on the dealio here where we are now. I get us to deming just after one but that's it cuz the road up to hatch has been closed and a fuckin dirt blankie comes down on everything. I find a "subway" garbage trough dispensary not far and we drop anchor there. all highways are closed and even the surface streets don't feel safe. I think of something in that book of mr melville's I just read:
from "moby-dick" chapter one hundred eight:
"thrusted light is worse than presented pistols"
I get a salad made w/as much spinach as they'll give me w/onions, pickles and wax peppers so I can park my ass here cuz it's hard for me to breathe in the boat. I read on the internet these parts on new mexico and west get like an average of twentytwo times a year since 2000, crimony. we hurry up and wait. a life can be many gigs but you need a life to do those, correct? it was trippy anway, me playing the same town two days in a row ('pert-near never!) so maybe it wasn't suppose to happen, huh? bof gigs were clean though... I'm so glad the gig boss keith thought of us doing two sets tomorrow so it's possible no one gets scissored if they can bear w/that. elegant solution. nature prevails and we play the hand that's dealt us the best we can, correct? five more hours around and everyone's hungry. ah hour ago I got us from that self-poisoning spot and been parking us in line at several highway entry points we've been taunted w/cuz of smartleash not so smart incorrect infos that are closed 'til finally at a quarter after six, mike has hodge use his to search for tacos, he finds a pad called "la fonda" a couple of miles away on the big street pine. I do guardiano in the boat, don't need to donate her to either here in deming or anywhere else. it's a "carnitas plate" I get and I dig it, new mexico style - people forget there's different kinds of mexican chow cuz there's different regions there where people come from - I love it all.
skies now clear, we head up nm-26 for hatch, most happening. we get erroneous infos about wildfires bringing another hazard but me noticing headlights coming south while we head north gives me a pretty good hunch the road is open once we leave hatch for I-25. twenty of nine I get us to a "marathon fast stop" to fuel the boat ($2.90/gallon) at truth or consequences (mike says he's actually done a couple of gigs in this town!) and the counterman is most kind to give the coff I got for free, maybe cuz it was just half of a small cup? I only wanted a swallow for the rest of the ride but he was most kind to do that. right after eleven I get us safe to jeremy and heather's in the south valley part of 'burque, fourth time I've been here - they're most kind, truly. so glad to see them - they got a new puppy, a real big one name yuki. they give me some chamomile tea to counteract what's left of that coff in me and about midnight I'm out... way tuckered but way safe and so relieved we all are here safe.
gig day and I pop at six, still real dark... fuckin cold too - remember we're way high up in these parts. "cookie monster" blankie is happening solution. chimp diary 'til daylight just after seven and then put out the word for the plan b tonight's gig boss keith put into effect cuz of yesterday dust storm dodge: two sets tonight. first though we gotta get that fore beam for the boat's shelf in the back glued and screwed plus reinforced. jeremy is gigantic help w/bof tools and schleps to the hardware store. mike does most the repair himself along w/hodge's help - I keep in the pad to minimize "kitchen filled w/many cooks" syndrome, I trust these guys like I trusted peetzo to build it in the first place. maybe being on bass gives you this kind of sense of crew? at least it helps. they do great, much respect to mike, hodge and jeremy for coming through. I chow oatmeal heather cooks up w/pieces of walnuts I put in after, it's good for me, real good. jeremy has a great rap about different musics - damn I forgot to link him up to this cat farya faraji via his youtube station, he's got all this stuff on how different musics from different pads and different times connect then and how they do now - even it fucked up ways so you can check out the lame stuff making that happen. really really interesting for me. could talk w/jeremy about music forever, he's really got it going on... urges me to try his ma's steinway piano he's got here in the room I konked in (konked on the deck next to it) and damn, it's trippy pushing these keys... whoa, some kind of a feel for me... can't remember when I last did this. I know the names of the keys, know it's one "button for each note" kind of thing but it's something for me to acutally do it, the tactile experience of it. it's really really trippy - jeremy so kind to have me do this. crimony.
hey, I got via email something from andy, one half of mold omen regarding the proj him and mike have w/me called mow and what he flowed was video of one of the songs ("sloe gin lois") on our upcoming album. I wrote back that sloe gin has a place in my memory cuz when I was seventeen I went to a black sabbath gig at the long beach arena w/my friend tony and got so polluted on sloe gin and schlitz malt liquor bull that I couldn't ever smell of either stuff again, I puked so hard that a janitor man just threw the sawdust he brought to soak up what came up on our konked-out borracho asses... later I found part of a hot dog stuck to my shirt - like an inch of one had come whole, like I didn't even chew the fucker. crimony.
we head for the guild cinema not too far on the other side of I-25 in a 'burque neighborhood called nob hill a quarter after two. the gig boss keith is waiting for us and I have a good rap w/him, says jeff who once let use a standup bass for a while is healthy these days after beating cancer, they got a band together. very good to hear that, I like the gig boss keith a bunch and glad he's playing w/jeff. only two channels of p.a. available cuz we're using the cinema's sound system for movies. no real soundcheck, just make sure the mics are working for the vocal, just me and mike tonight and no hodge singing. we get done and mike finds tacos for us from a korea pad - yeah, we got these things in l.a. where korea gets mixed w/mexico for happening chow, I can taste that taste and dig it much.
two sets tonight, early one starts at six and a half w/jeremy and heather doing their a hawk and a hacksaw and it's beautiful, I love it. really good playing together and really good sounds from all over, what music's supposed to be for someone like watt, just a trip to get carried away w/and dig. I'm inspired.
we're on after some poems by mark weber w/lots of nature-inspired inspiration I feel. our gig goes good and the 'burque gig-goers really help w/that, giving us generous focus and respect. so glad one gig wasn't scissored totally even if it came a day later. leonard, a cat who's seen buttloads of my gigs in 'burque is here sits w/me to watch and we get rap a bunch after... it's been a quite a while. he's always been most kind to me and it's great to see him again. I am most grateful to gig-goers who keep on keepin on supporting me, it's so good to them as we're on our journeys... most kind of them, truly. love leonard.
the next gig we do is even better which is hard for me, I was always found a second one more difficult than the first when I had to do that. maybe having eric mingus go on first and then getting to talk w/him. he's got such a nice voice and happening things to share, bof on stage and then off like here... actually he got the whole room to sing and accompany him w/one of his pieces, about a mill trying to grind our bones down and he smiled big when I related that to him. I asked about his pop and his book and he interesting to say, said there's a lot of pages no one's seen yet... he says he lives in santa fe and maybe can be there when we come through there on our way home. jeremy has meet this young child sunshine, whoa, very inspiring also. I think this second set is better, like I said. I liked the first one but sometimes things work out the way they do and all you can try your best... you know I wanna do my best every time for gig-goers and for the cats I'm playing w/also, I feel owe everybody nothing less, truly.
my old buddy bob-san is here, love this man and get to rap w/him much at the boat. first there's pete and ann from lawrence - this bracelet made from a bicycle spoke on my port wrist is from him from years ago, very precious to me. I got to give him and ann a tour of my pedro town last year, that was a great honor. I didn't get to show them everything so I hope to show them more some day. back to the big rap w/bob-san, we have a lot stuff to catch up w/cuz it's been a long time and I love my raps w/him.
time runs out and I got say bye to bob-san, can't wait to see him again, prolly at the sante fe gig in april. we head back to jeremy and heather's and I konk pretty quick, all tuckered but happy the 'burque gig still came through, means much. I konk very happy, even w/it being mindnight, so many good things here for us in 'burque...
thursday, march 20, 2025 - lubbock, tx
from mike:
A peaceful morning
Land flattening, sun, no trees
Great scene at Co-OPt
from hodge:
openers were electric friends a duo drummer and bass/moog synthesizer they raged for 30 minutes of beats and textures very cool. the venue was a converted garage now a art workshop art gallery and concert space. i think we all were the first groups to make a concert in the space. we stayed at the drummer and his girlfriend’s house neil and allison barret. we all got a room of our own i set up my cool air mattress that my kids got me.
from watt:
pop at twenty of seven... still dark but an hour later when sun comes, it's clear blue skies but I'm guessing a little frio... nice inside jeremy and heather's pad though, this is way happening and I dig it much. I chimp diary 'til everyone else pops... I hose off, then chow oatmeal made from heather w/blueberries in them while rapping w/jeremy and hodge about drum stuff... sun is nice and bright out the windows but fuckin thirtysix degrees (f) - crimony! me and jeremy have one last rap about music, damn I wish I had forever time to do this w/him, truly I do. next gig is calling us though so we shove off twenty after ten... 'til next time!
I get us north on I-25 and then east on I-40, we climb out of the basin that cradles 'burque. a little before noon, around exit 242, either side of us are the burned up remnants of big rigs, burned to the gound w/one on the shoulder and one on the infield... sorry but I don't shoot shots of this kind of shit... I don't fuck w/that shit cuz the concreteness of that reality is way too big time on me, way too big. around twenty minutes later we leave I-40 (for now at santa roasa (where lots of richard fuckin bonney's people are from) to cut the corner using us-84, I get us to a "shell" to fuel the boat up for $2.80/gallon. hodge gets the windshield 'pert-near as clean as I got it a year and a half ago, good man brings a good job... respect to him. around twenty of three we reach texico, then say hasta to new mexico and hola texas... we also lose an hour. the boat's sound trip shuffle gives us "john coltrane: the coltrane legacy" and we hear elvin jones say some real nice plus music from when they were in a band together, beautiful. this was a doc on a dvd but we got just audio hear and then we get part three of "a love supreme" ("pursuance") that's from the only fully-recorded live performance july 26, 1965 in antibes, france (wait a minute, there's this one recorded in three months later in seattle they found in 2002 - I am baka! I listened to this fifteen times in a row when it came out in 2021!) of that piece. harry partch comes up! love this shuffle trip of the stuff I got. an hour and twenty minutes later we reach the gig pad in lubbock, a former small auto shop repurposed into a diy culture pad called co-opt research + project - fuck yeah! I really look forward to seeing what's up for tonight, trippy gigs I've had in lubbock - always a surprise! so many cats are making things happen the way you might no expect which I think is a righteous thing.
mike goes and forages for chow for us... some folks show up around twenty of six... I meet the co-gig boss brendan who's very cool people and we rap... openers electric friend drummerman neil is next to discuss dallas punk stuff, pads I've played there and where I'm going to saturday... hell, I realize like tonight and the next gigs are at pads I've done before, can you believe? I'm way into it. bassbrother jason arrives - he was on my show and is a connect to here outside of what mike had to book this show - small world again! crimony. co-gig boss brendan said bof chris corsano and derek monypenny have played here also. crimony. mike comes back w/much success w/his forage, it's really good carnitas tacos he's gotten me, I really dig - grilled ceballos, cillantro and lime too plus topo chico to wash it down. whoa. really happening here, many nice cats.
there's a latin man from the neighborhood checking things out, he asks about what's happening out by the boat and I show him the boat's license playe and that I work bajo in towns around the country, I can tell he's interested but it's kind of strange and something he really doesn't know about. I bet he could relate if had the chance - that's what real do-it-your-self culture and community can make happen... trippy, the "yourself" part of that cuz acutally it's about people coming together, just not in a mersh sense, correct? I then get to rap w/bassbrother jason from the opening band some more - we had a good time on my show but in person it's got that other dimension, correct?
eight bells and the gig starts, electric friend are tearing it up, they're really good. bassbrother jason also does synth, it's really happening how using that or the bass is so fuckin rockin w/neil the stickman w/the beat in his hand. the sound is good too which is trippy cuz of all the cement... this pad was built for fixing coches! our turn next and I'm revved up from our opener friends' go, what a gift: to get lit cuz of an artistic expression, amen. crimony! we do real good, the lubbock gig-goers aiding and abetting and in fact, the first dancing I've witnessed this tour for us, it's "no words" that's gets cats shaking - mike wrote such a happening bass part for this. I got the co-gig boss brandon like at ten o'clock on me and he's working the soundboard, he's our fourth man and doing great, much respect! my best gig ever in lubbock tonight, I'm most grateful to mike, hodge and everyone here - bof me and mike tell the folks they got a real good scene here, something beautiful, truly.
big hug for bassbrother jason, he did great. I rap w/some other lubbock bassbrothers too, great cats - I do it right from behind the boat's wheel w/the window down and it's a good time, much respect to them! we're konking w/his drummerman neil, it's at allison's parents pad actually here where no one really lives cuz they're in san marcos these days, so kind of them to help us out this way. yeah, no carpet on the deck, but w/this trueaire mattress, you can konk on fuckin cement, which we do. man, I wish we had these things forty years ago... I think of d boon and georgie... crimony. there's a good feel in this pad and though I gotta ask hodge to hit the lights (he likes to spiel after gigs), I'm out like that, out real quick, in moments cuz prolly I really needed but also cuz it was a bitchin time here in lubbock.
friday, march 21, 2025 - oklahoma city, ok
from mike:
Intense taco scene
Thanks Victor and Old Blood Noise
Best gig yet, methinks
from hodge:
morning came and Allison got us breakfast tacos very kind gracious hosts those tacos were great really hit the spot.
from watt:
pop quarter after seven, best konk of the tour! ain't been having the usual 'mares I get the first of week of tour but have had mid-konks pop interrupting everyone so far and only the kind of mandatory at least one pissing I had last night. my body feels so good this morning. there's real good spiel w/neil and allison about all kinds of stuff - neil was a tour boss as well now being I think a most happening drummerman... says he was way into brendan of fugazi - not a bad sensei, love that cat. he gives me a cassette of his pornohelmut proj which I gotta wait to hear in pedro cuz the boat does only usb stick stuff. I hose off and lose my wallet/llaves... neil comes to the rescue and saves the tour - not all of us are puny humans!
we pull anchor at nine and a half... I get on us-62 east after today's first blowby. mike tells me I fucked up on the gig numbering thing but I tell him since we ended up doing two shows in albuquerque on one night instead over two, it was more like two sets for one gig, so goes the fucking semantics like it matters a goddamn anyway, correct? no music, two hours of rapping (much of gig debriefing from mike mixed in w/talk about john coltrane), comes eleven and a half I pull us over at filling station called "ranchland" in benjamin, $2.90/gallon. they got long-handled squeegees which is great for hodge to bring his best w/keeping the windshield clean... still early enough in the spring before the real bug onslaught but there's nothing better for me on the rudder being able to see real good where we're headed, so grateful to hodge for that, truly. the breakfast burrito allison got me for asagohan ('breakfast' in jap) was good but I wanna supplement in w/some ensalata, miss hiyori very kind to get me some from here. great weather. we pass through wichita falls at one and I think of pete stewart... I met his friend drummerman allen back in 'burqe at the guild theater gig and he emailed me the next day this happening track pete recorded back in the 90s where he played everything, a great proj he had called the trophy wives... we lost him a few years ago... pete would call me all the time and we'd rap about stuff, man, what a beautful cat - love you, pete stewart.
I get us on I-44 and twenty minutes, we cross into oklahoma... byb bye texas 'til tomorrow. I wanna stick to the "two hours at a time rule" but it's the comanche nation casino where I get us off ten of two - no gas stations but it's not gas we wanna put in the boat, it's piss we wanna put outside our bodies. we find a poison-server pad called "braums" and they prolly re-cycle the piss plus turd for those who wanna consume stuff they sling. that done, we get down the road for the last stretch to oklahoma city... a new pad for me this time, in a new neighborhood for me also...
I get us off in the southwest part of town and it reminds me of so cal, very latin and we're all digging it the boat - there'll be good chow here for sure! the venue is called resonant head and it's in what they call here capitol hill, there's a pedal builder company right door and I fucking jump the curb where the crew is on break playing hacky-sack, they all bust up laughing. I go around the block and get us to the correct hatch and we load out, I meet the pad boss patrick who is very cool people who tells me this pad is just about to be two years old... I tell him he was recommended by matt goad who's the cat who's pad we're gonna konk at tonight which I have many many times before, he's so kind. we check w/soundman caleb and then I meet the guys in the openers, the earslips from tulsa and jaw/line from here, all real kind cats. mike brings us chow and I got carnitas tacos, good ones. I konk in the boat.
awaken by band sounds, I get to see the earslips kick up much dust, I really dig them - a trio w/much dynamics, their bassman working an econo beatle bass like mine later he tells me his is from indonesia and the one I got is china - I got it for a tav falco tour I got to do w/him in 2015 but do much composing on it these days, always is by where I konk in my pad. I also recorded the opera I did w/petra (via our _pelicanman_ proj) w/charley plymell's words called "planet chernobyl" which we did during the 2020-2022 situation via file trading... petra did so good w/that stuff that I did another thing w/frank and nathan from wata and having mike (mssv mike) add guitar later... it's called _bunches of button-ups_ and she's working on her stuff for it now, I can't wait to hear what she cooks up, she's incredible and I love her.
our turn at nine and a half and damn if my 'a' string is out of tune like a whole fuckin step for the first tune - so embarrassing, what a fucking baka I am. hell, I was born embarrassed so that I hate the point, I just hate letting mike, hodge and the gig-goers down. mike has a good way of negotiating the clam and the oklahoma city gig-goers are most kind to go w/a take two - I clam also a little bit w/the form of new tune "no words" (the set's opener is the title tune from the album we're touring "on and on" - seems I'm an "equal opportunity clam provider" huh? damn me) but I do good on the other stuff and does hodge and mike, the band's getting better w/each gig of this tour, this is a very happening thing. thank you good people of oklahoma city for helping w/that.
the bassman for jaw/line helps me w/my speakerbox and we get to talking - he wants to know about bass cuz he says he's a guitarman but I told him he did good and there's wrong w/using a pick (he said he didn't how to use fingers w/this band he's w/) but I tell him it's all vocabulary, correct? what trips me out is that he's a oklahoma city guitarman but doesn't know charlie christian, crimony! that is a total mindblow. we talk about james jamerson too - I tell him if you wanna know about bass then listen to that brother's work. I like this cat's spirit, he seems he wants to be a discoverer w/music, fuck yeah! the earslips guitarman is very cool also and I get a chance to rap w/him and also invite him on my show when I get off tour, I wanna find out about his music journey.
ready behind the wheel waiting for the go once the boat's loaded, brother duda gives me a girly-text on my leash saying "boat song" was his favorite tune of the night. that means much to me. we shove off for the parkview part of town and damn if I don't run over a median if it was for mike alert in the shotgun seat w/the ojos set for maximum surveillance, I'm most grateful. we get to matt goad's most bitchen pad and he offers me the shaua in his room cuz it's got more pressure to hose off. so good to see him again and see him shipshape, righteous. up w/the air mattress and down w/watt, right at midnight I'm out like that.
saturday, march 22, 2025 - dallas, tx
from mike:
Best sleep finally, yes!
Ernesto, great scene, nice breeze
Wind chimes play with me
from hodge:
this was a very cool gig. ernesto montiel has created a bookstore bar, coffee house, and performance space. really great staff and vibe! you play outside in a long patio. we had three bands on the bill the thc trio and trio glossia+ gregg prickets and us mssv. these.
thc trio had drums guitar and alto sax. beautiful sounds and textures sonic cluster drummer sonic scientist lisa used sticks and long pieces of thin metal and a bow to coax a variety of sounds from drums and cowbells, styrofoam, small metal cymbals. guitar person created a variety of textures and alto sax person play beautiful long tones to multi notes clusters.
trio glassia+gregg pricketts had 4 members two drummers who one switched between tenor sax and drums the other between drums and vibraphone. stand up bass sometimes with the bow and a masterful guitarist. where the thc trio had more of a free floating song format, these guys had songs with amazing spaces of silence as part of the compositions. all great players very inspirational!
we honked at our friends jeremey melissa and liam emmert's house. we have stayed there many times they are so gracious and kind. make us very welcome. i got laundry done, always a nice relief to get all the clean clothes back in the duffle bag.
from watt:
pop at six-forty, matt said there was some mediterranean-whatever kind of chow last night but I'm not into chowing after gigs so hold out for morning... in his fridge I see something that looks like liverwurst... man, it's been a while since I've had liverwurst so I cut off two slices from this roll and put back the celophane it had closing up one end and then using little tomatoes, onions and mustard he's also got in the fridge along w/a pita bread, I put together what I think is the closest I can get to what I dug about getting in a deli in new york city, a liverwurst sandwich w/tomatoes, onion and mustard. tastes kind of "chickeny" though, whatever... I wash it down w/coff from the jive k-machine he's got. when matt pops and I tell him what I chowed, he tells me that what I had was not liverwurst but in fact was chow for matt's dog "banjo" - ain't that a trip? later in the boat, mike says he called his wife who's a vet back where they live in gainesville, fl and what I did ain't dangerous and I had prolly had more healthy chow than what's slung in a lot of fuckin troughs these days. crimony.
I talk to matt about what I learned of music in oklahoma city a 'pert-near a hundred years ago cuz of reading
"a biography of charlie christian, jazz guitar's king of swing" by wayne e. goins and craig r. mckinney - man, I cannot recommend this book enough, cannot cuz I loved it big time and anyone on an electric instrument and/or just interested in music stuff that has real consequence should read this, I shit thee not. it was huge on me, read it real careful cuz it's a trip and a revelation, this story of charlie christian, a cat who it turns out didn't have much time which is a heartbreak but he was part of thing that still is w/someone like watt, let me tell you. matt tells me about growing up in phoenix, az and learning about the movement and seeing the meat puppets a bunch at house parties. I tell him about cris seeing us early in the tour and us gonna start proj... now it's gonna be called the _bottle conjurors_ and anchor the tunes from chapters of mr melville's "moby-dick" (you can hear each chapter read to you here at mobydickbigread.com if you're reading skills ain't up to it)... the proj name is from chapter 112 and when I suggested it to him, he dug the idea so here we go! please understand we ain't trying to translate mr melville's work but rather use each chapter as "launchpads" or "springboards" kind of in the same way I compose on bass w/those in my I'm collaborating w/in order to build the tune. we'll use the title and have a thorough read but that's it, kind of how a ceramics cat uses clay to cup w/a cup or bowl, capito? I think I'm gonna start w/chapter fourtyfour...
after chowing most happening salmon tacos matt cooked up (much respect to him!), we pull anchor at eleven - so grateful to matt for his kindness and always most interesting spiel, very insightful cat. south on the I-35 and fifty minutes later, I pull us off at a "shell" for boat fuel, $2.95/gallon (these pads ain't cheap, I was baka), hodge does a great job w/the windshield despite the short-stick squeegee, good man. just before one and a half, I get us across the border into texas, the weather still as good as when left matt's pad, yes. today's a new part of dallas for me, in the southwest and called bishop arts and the gig pad is like a big house/book store w/us playing in this big back yard area... the happening weather is really gonna aid and abet, I'm really looking forward to it - also the fucking bands we get to share the stage w/, yes! parking is a nightmare but I luck out near a driveway (though later I'll find some pendejo wedging me in, can you believe that shit?). the gig boss is ernesto, very cool people who came from venezula nine years ago he tells me and is way into bringing exciting experimental music, yes, love it! miguel is the soundman and is from the "rubber gloves" pad up in denton (about forty miles north of here), where where stefan gonzalez lives - he's here and it's so good to see him... him, his brother and his pop opened up for me in the fratelli in 2014 in deep ellum and before that I played w/him w/the rep from corwood industries in houston in 2013 (jandek proj)... good to see him again. mike goes gets us chow from a pad a couple doors down called "sketches of spain" w/spanish chow - a small portion of a spanish tortilla that's nothing like the kind here, more like a omelette w/eggs, potato - nothing like ours. there's some vegetables that taste good (kind of pimiento stuff) but I'm hankering for ensalata so mike finds some and it's more mexico style and I dig much. I watch the soundcheck for stefan's band, trio glossia+ and damn if the bassman matthew frerck really amazes me, I start thinking of ronnie boykins and tell him that soon as I get the chance. the whole band is really cooking, I talk to the drummerman joshua canate... he trades off w/stefan, doing tenor sax while stefan's on the traps and stefan does vibes when he's on the traps - I talk w/him about maybe the bass being more of a "four string drum set" instead of a "four string guitar" - I've said it before and I'm getting more convinced as I move on through life w/music. hey, will hamilton is here, I'm really glad to get to hug him and talk some, what a trip he's here, makes me really happy.
gig is early, the glossia trio+ begins at six and half, crimony, do they bring it! great music from these cats, truly. I'm stage starboard and taking it all in, I mean I'm way way into it... I talk to the guitarman gregg prickett and let him know how much I dug what he brought, it was so econo in ways and always in w/the whole band, really beautiful. stefan too, crimony, is this a great group... I have to pick my jaw up off the fuckin deck. next is _thc trio_ which has got lisa cameron on drums (got to play w/lis last month in l.a.'s ktown along jared and raquel of galecstasy and dug it much), guitarman jonathan horne (I got to play w/him for glenn branca's symphony 13 in l.a. back in 2006) and saxman joshua thompson and they do real good too. crimony...
out turn next at eight and a half. clean gig, much respect to the dallas gig-goers, also their focus and respect w/the quietness for our tiny parts... the prob I got is w/me, I clam real bad not on a new tune but one from the album we're touring - left out some crucial spiel but the band came to the rescue after some "what the fuck?" moments (much respect to mike and hodge) and then the richard hell tune, I blew right through where hodge gets a drum solo - we got it in but it was (I was, actually) in the wrong spot - what a baka? I hope this don't sound like I'm blaming matthew for anything but I couldn't stop thinking about him and ronnie boykins the whole of the _mssv_ set and not in an inspiring way but big time distracted and like I told mike later in an apology, "unprofessional" and I meant that in a most sincere sense. it was terrible. fuck, I let the gig-goers down also... will hamilton and his buddies he brought, arrrgghhh... I gotta learn from this experience. it's hard to remember if this has happened to me before, hmm... I didn't ruin the whole set but there were some other things, maybe smaller but damn me for not having together. plesae don't misuderstand though, bassman matthew was pure inspiration for me, in no am blaming for anything lame I did, I fuckin big time dig the opportunity I got to discover him and his bass work, truly... I'm thinking about it still while I chimp this, I shit thee not!
well, I do feel a little better when brother ken comes up to me as I'm putting stuff away and we have a real good rap, lots about stooges and also about putting the plug in the jug. amen, can't thank him enough. a cat named scott hugs me - he had me aboard in a proj he had back in the city in 2009, whoa, big surprise. there's a bunch of most kind gig-goers here giving me the good word, I really enjoy a lot of stuff about tonight... BUT, not the fuckin clams I blew! crimony can life be a mixed bag.
I bring the boat to the back via an alley (luckily that fuckin pendejo moved) and we load out, I get to rap to gig boss ernesto and thank him big time for bof tonight and all I hear he does for the scene - actually stefan told me this hermano himself saved their free music scene... damn if later mike tells me there's a connect w/hermano ernesto and the lubbock cats at the co-opt pad, crimony! I'm way into it, this is what it's all about, cats w/connects w/connects making things happening w/we all can get in on creative options regarding expression, letting the freak flag fly.
I get us to irving where guitarman jeremy lives, maybe fourteen miles away. he ain't riding w/us and the navigatora is mistaken but mike uses his wits and gets us to where I've been buttloads of time, damn me and my lame memory. I hose real quick after getting the mattress pumped in the living room and then boom (like giving/receiving a fist-pump, correct?), I am out in moments. mercy.
sunday, march 23, 2025 - san antonio, tx
from mike:
Another great sleep!
Steamy day at the corn pound
TENS pads on my knee
from hodge:
and now we are back in the boat headed for a festival in san antonio. this was a festival we got there about 4pm and we started playing at 5:45pm. full house of music lovers really good vibes! day show of course and that meant that we had youth in the mix. one fella helped me to no end with getting the drums to the stage and helping with packing and getting them back to the van. it's amazing how fast all that can be done with help!!!!! i thanked him over and over again, why the heck didn't i ask him his name. after this i am gonna grab my phone camera and document to share and show respect. i get so focused on getting the kit packed i forget other cool possibilities. i did get to talk to two brothers who play drums and bass they had interesting questions, oh boy that's all it takes wind me up and i will drum/music geek out big time. technique came up as a question. i always say music before technique, but if we are talking chops/technique slow and quiet builds the little muscles the ones that do the refined work. so when you want to rock you are relaxed. go too hard, fight or flight and you only work the big muscles. anywho it was nice to have young musicians in the mix, we mostly play bars at night. we are staying couple hundred feet from the concert site at dano and patrice's home very comfortable and i get my own room.
from watt:
pop twenty after seven. coff from those k-jive machines for caff fix - "jones coming down," correct? when jeremy pops, he makes me some happening tacos made from what? I discuss the kind of yellow unko from me this put in their toilet this morning. I think it was from that dog chow, usually means you ain't metabolizing the fat in your chow you're supposed to and of course I ain't that adjusted to dog chow much. no hurt, just trippy. I get to rap w/jeremy about all kinds of stuff, most of it music and damn if he don't have a wattplower bass now and he wants me to sign. of course and his son liam's pbass and jazzmaster also. beautiul cats and always the most kind w/me. we pull anchor at eleven. it's south on I-35 for us w/the weather nice, that's happening
just after twelve and a half, I pull over lacy lake view (definitely a realtor-invented name) just north of waco at a "valerio/circle k" to fuel up the boat - mike using gasbuddy.com for the turn-on but what he thought was $2.50/gallon is actually ten cents more cuz he uses his card... we are but "puny humans," correct? I rap to mike about reading this "being pres" book by dave gelly, really digging it. lester young didn't know about the blues growing up... crimony, he was in new orleans too! shows to go you, huh? book says he first heard them off a 78 in minneapolis, a cat playing a c-melody alto name frankie traumbaure. whoa. just before three it's piss stop time so I drop anchor at a "qt" in buda - only dispensing of fluids, no intake (for the boat). clouds are rolling in but the theremometer says eightysix degrees f, hottest yet of the tour. a quarter after four I get us to _the corn pound_ and there's dano waiting for us right inside the gate, love this man. we're the last act of this flagship records three year anniversary fest" and are going on at six, love the early gig cuz that means early konk for watt, correct? I chow the ensalata miss hiyori got me when we stopped in buda. at least it's got some arrugula... patrice brings me a cold "topo chico" (carbonated mineral water from mexico, my favorite) and I hear some band play from where the boat is docked, outside what they call "the barn" here. no sound check we're gonna go on early even, which is way alright w/me. I get to talk w/john of peglegasus about a proj his brother pete is gonna have w/me called _ligan_ and now we're gonna trip it out by have drummerman pete provide the parts first, then me and then assembled and added to by john. I'm way into seeing what happens and it's good to talk w/john again. artistman sergio gives me a work of his I put on the dash of the boat and tell him he's most kind - after the tour I'm gonna put it my prac pad to help inspire my pracs! I got much stuff like that over the years up on my prac pad bulkheads.
mike gets me out of the boat and helps me on stage - put a yellow "x" where I shouldn't step cuz there's a hole there. lots of young people here, these san antonio-gig goers are still into be quiet for our tiny parts, much respect to them. I rally and make up for the clams I blew last night in dallas, the band overall does really good, soundman jose helping us out much, right on the fly. we'er all getting more command of the new tunes just a week in a half in, most happening: mssv progress. mike's got a lot of faith in us to do this in front of gig-goers but when you think about what life is for and stuff like that, it make sense to me, like why fuckin not? I wrote song for us minutemen called "life as a rehearsal" cuz actually I believe it fuckin it ain't, the reality on the dealio is it's THE fuckin take and anything else is us just trying to fool ourselves. fuck, I was born embarrassed... I got nothing to lose, that's what I've come to believe.
we finish up and I'm real happy w/getting to be part of this. I get the good word from jeff smith (label boss of saustex), it's been a long time and I tell him I got 815 days w/out alcohol and he asks me, "is it working for you?" I answer "yes, absolute!" and thank him again. he moves econoline so I can put the boat where it's safer he says. I rap w/some young musicians and young photographer man, I ask them to never stop w/their journey cuz I think it's worth it. I meet deke and zack of crazy rhythms records and they're really nice cats, we talk about the feelies (their pad's named after that band's debut album) and I remember getting the first seven inch a loving it so much. stuff music has brought me, I think about these connects and the good stuff I got to grateful for. my old buddy cary came down from austin, so kind of him... he built skateparks for twentyfive years, much respect to him.
I follow dano next door to his pad and he watches to if it's safe for me, very kind. I hose off and they got salami and stuff for us to chow. I don't chow much processed meat but I've always loved salami and it's been a while so I chow them w/some hot sauce and berries, trippy together but I dig it. I'm tuckered and soon am down and konked, konked hard.
monday, march 24, 2025 - houston, tx
from mike:
Big rain storm rolls through
Backstage housecat naps with me
Sweated it all out
from hodge:
this is the sister club to the continental club in austin, texas sorry folks i have spaced on this one... i know we stayed with a new friend brian and his house was big and comfortable and he has a vast record collection. i will do better in the future.
from watt:
pop at five - up, the consequence of watt konking at then and a half maybe? here's another trip: later I find out everyone in this pad hear a fuckin slam/bang thunderstorm while me? nothing, I had no idea and konked oblivous... obviously I was fuckin way tuckered, huh? I chimp diary to catch up cuz if I'm up, I'm up and why be in denail of it? denail is for the klown in charge right now, that and just outright motherfuckin lying. hodge said heard crazy wild nature happening, everyone heard something but watt. crimony. I guess when you're out, you're out in my case. at least it's real konk these days and not blackouts like buttloads of other times in my past. crimony, am I a slow learner.
we pull anchor at eleven -maybe next time we see dano and patrice will be corpus christi? they gave us some great breakfast tacos I dig chowing, so much kindness from them for me so many years, let me tell you. big love for dano and patrice from me. surface roads for a while (like yesterday, san antonio is full of construct) then east on I-10... a quarter of one at the exit for flatonia (yep, not a typeo) I get us to a "shell" to fuel up the boat for $2.90/gallon. that storm blew out east cuz skies are all blue, about eighty f but the humidity is climbing... I'm relearning the boat's cooling system (remember, last time I used her was last fall for the tour w/chris corsano and joe baiza) so not such a shvitz especially for those in the back though in front w/the windshield has its own dimension for broister. I get us into the houston downtown just before three... it's right near a pad I played w/the missingmen where the lite brothers were also w/us... this pad's called the "continental club" which is also the name of the pad us minutemen first played in austin... it was w/the tail gators and they had keith ferguson on bass, a great I big time dig, very sad we lost him in the 90s but much respect to him. everyone in that band was cool people and very kind to us - it was our tour for "double nickels on the dime" and in the summer, very hot sweaty I remember but still most bitchin and I loved it. next door to tonight's gig pad is a chow pad named "tacos a go go" and mike gets comidas from there, "taco salad bowl" kind of thing for me w/three al pastor tacos and a bottle of topo chico, very happening for me - we all dig mike's chow choices on tour and he keeps us very healthy. amen.
I meet gig boss allen and we rap about dusty hill, bassbrother mr ferguson - yes, there is a connection w/this pad and the austin one, I ain't totally out of my mind! ok. "the backroom" is where we played fourteen years ago ("north american hyphenated-man tour 2011")... we check soundman luba but not before allen got to do a gig w/void-oid guitarman ivan julian not too long ago - that fuckin blows my mind. it's a small world sometime, really is and I love it.
after check I go to the boat and do my first real sweaty semi-konks of the tour. it's fuckin brutal on me, even w/the coat my sister melinda sewed for me and the shirt she got to go under it off. it is torture and I drift in and out of whatever - I don't even know what to call it cuz it ain't really konk and it really being popped but rather some gooey strange "being" somehow... I miss the openers lonesome haunts (crimony, it turns out I never even get meet them, damn me)... w/mike coming to roust me w/minutes before the nine bell go time...
it's 'pert-near a total gig for me being w/hodge, I'm turned and looking at him the whole enchilada w/some peeks over at mike but only a couple of look-sees to the houston gig-goers which I hope don't seem like I'm some aloof cabron thinking they don't deserve my attention but I just wanna help us get our stuff more together and I am truly there for hodge to help however I can. I know mike's into that goal too and in fact has us play a new tune "help" twice cuz the first time through was too clammed up - I think that was a good call. I also think it was a good gig, just kind of trippy but the houston gig-goers really were w/us and you could just feel the support, like a helper-up someone might give you w/one of your feet when you try to get up over a wall or up on a deck or something, capito? I think it was one of the best versions of dick hell's tune I've brought yet for the tour, I was thinking of ivan much...
I get lots of good word from gig-goers, one cat was outside the boat when we arrived on a bicycle and damn if it ain't a bass brother who rocks a gibson eb-0, the main influence on my reverend guitars wattplower - good to share thoughts about gear when it means something like what you're gonna do w/it and not just some fetish shit-hoarder jive crap, correct? an electrician man who says he was born in jackson (we're gonna play there in two days) helps w/stowing my speakerbox/amp and getting the thunderbroom shipshape, most kind of him. oh, the girls rock ladies were on stage post-gig while I was packing up to to say hi, one of the mydolls also, beautiful! I sign much stuff and take photos also, such nice folks here to come see us, crimony! this is the town I met the voskamp brothers (rapped w/john yesterday, will still w/pete after the upcoming dc gig) and would stay w/them and their buddies in la port on the gulf... I got so man happening memories of these parts so please don't let that climate thing I was struggling w/pre-gig mean all that much cuz it's tiny in compared to people here who've been so kind to me.
mike's got a connect w/this cat brian who ain't that far away and has got a most happening pad w/a garage we can just fit the boat in a music room w/stuff all set up for jams but still room for the air mattress - yatta!! the head's right there also so I hose off and get in my nightwear, it's before eleven and a half and I konk real easy and most grateful.
konked, konked hard.
tuesday, march 25, 2025 - baton rouge, la
from mike:
Great desayuno
Community, characters
More cats nap with me
from hodge:
this venue was a church that has been repurposed into a concert venue, record store, music instruments store. pretty big room and big stage. every room has it's note or frequency that has it's major effect on how the instruments react. this one made my snare drum note take off like a rocket. so you do your best to play underplay the snare. people being in the room can help but this room could use some real acoustical treatments. the soundman robert and all the bands involved were super kind and we had a lot of discussions about music and instruments, great to be around folks who are so deeply involved with recording learning and touring. we konked at brian dominque's house, beautiful place 4 beautiful cats very sweet and friendly. turns out that brian's place is a spot for the local musicians to hang out after hours. we talked into the night, then when i nodded out for a brief second they took that as a que to bail out. we were pretty much talked out and i needed to sleep.
from watt:
popped at four and piss but konked again and popped at eight. so it goes. I read the news and I think about this from dr collier and this from professor tim. most kind brian has already bailed for work, mike gets us desayuno, heuvos mexicano w/refried beans and tortillas for me that are real good - mike picks for me and it's always good. I have a good rap w/brian and tell him his music room was most happening to konk in, sympathetic w/the feel, huh? I think so. he's most kind, let us wash stuff and had coff too. he can play everything, he's got all the stuff you need for a band in here, much respect. gotta hear his band mike told me about, invite him on my show... always great meeting new cats. you know, people ask me about the old days and I tell them for me it was about people. well, you know what? I think today's about people also.
we pull anchor at eleven and head east on I-10, bound for louisiana. there's some clouds but not too heavy, I think that storm has blown out and I'm most grateful. the tunes from the boat's the usb stick give player us this trippy bootleg jimmy tune "drone blues" and I find the drummer pretty trippy - mike finds out via his leash connected to the internet he was rocky issac and in fact there's an interview w/a cat played w/him in a band called the cherries. nine of one we cross the state line and it's bye bye to texas for a good while... I pull us off in sulphur twenty minutes later at a pad called "bayou food mart" and fuel up the boat for $2.80/gallon. here's a trip, the boat's navigatore screen shows across the road and street called "leland" - I live on a leland street in my pedro town, have lived there for twenty years now! crimony. back on I-10 east, we've been on much causeway through bayou, this is theatchafalaya basin... neat stuff going by the windows of the boat, unique to this part of the u.s. - I'm always fascinated by our different parts, even after fortytwo years of doing this tour life. twenty of four I get us across the mississippi river on the wilkinson bridge.
we get off into a part of baton rouge I've never played before - not by the school (lsu) but in "mid city" which is prolly why tonight's gig pad is called the mid city ballroom and I drop anchor right by their front hatch at ten of four (waiting for a train to cross once in town took some time)... weather more gentle than yesterday in houston hot and sticky-wise, blessed be. this pad also has a music store, most happening! I'm enlightened by the soundman robert this used to be a church. we check and then I spend the rest of my time here in the backstage (actually stage starboard), lots of rapping w/the cats from the two opening bands, local cats w/young musicians that are very friendly and open to spiel so much spiel happens, especially w/bof the bassmen, john from bozo red (told him about getting to play jack bruce's cream bass) and hunter from gratitude jar (we rap about joe lally") have good spiels w/me after we check w/soundman robert, really happening cats, love their spirit. also bof bozo red guitarmen - w/heath about minstrel and w/noah aboutcormac mccarthy, fascinating (quote mr spock, correct?). I've read the border trilogy, "outer dark" and "the road" but in no way does that me make and expert on that writer but can say I like the way he writes, kind of like how I dig the way james jamerson works bass. as far as minstrel, I truly believe it has much foundation and roots to what I do now w/music even that might sound a little trippy. I think it has a lot to do w/a lot of u.s. music. mike brings me carnitas tacos and a bottle of topo chico from some pad that are real good. I spend no time in the boat tonight, I am 'pert-near cemented to this couch and experience today in baton rouge in this chamber!
after very enthusiastic sets from our buddies, it's our turn at nine and a half, so very kind for everyone to work to make that happen. I do a spiel w/someone the pad's owner brings in right before show time, only three questions from gabby but they're good ones and doesn't bogart on our go time. I dig the show but do have to say it has the most challenging acoustics of the tour so far. too much reflection from the bulkheads so we gotta work hard to tame the fuckin din factor. we're up to it and we're learning mike's tunes better at the same time - much respect to hodge cuz there's no volume knobs of drums, you gotta work them physically to get what you want. after the gig, rob cambre who drove all the way from new orleans (about eighty miles) and he helps w/the whole schlep of my stuff from the stage to the boat and we concurrently have a great catching-up spiel in the meantime. love rob much, known him for years and years. many gig-goers bof young and old give me the good word... maybe this gig had the most more-younger cats of the tour so far, much respect to them. it was a real good time here in baton rouge so glad to have this gig here and meet all the most kind people... of course I'll sign there things and take photos w/them - right from behind the wheel of the boat w/the windown down, they don't mind cuz like I said: most kind.
speaking of which, a most kind cat named brian (two brian's in a row!) has invited us to konk at his pad a few miles away, a very nice pad and there's a room for the air mattress w/a head right next door - like last night in houston except the deck is cement but no prob w/the trueaire, it is so fucking happening, I can't tell you. sorry watt is so tuckered, there's no socializing from me... I am most grateful though for all this kindness while I'm hosing off and am soon in the nightwear and then on my way to a real quick konk cuz damn if I don't need it.
wednesday, march 26, 2025 - jackson, ms
from mike:
Too many emails
Good catch up with ol' tim lee
Tech probs, but good gig
from hodge:
moring arrives hot shower play with the cats brian makes strong coffee. more conversation with he and his girlfriend more coffee and more play time with the cats. 12 noon rolls around and we are back in the boat shoving off.
in this photo is the complete drummer percussionist bruce golden. we got to hear a trio he works with do an amazing opening set of improv music. guitar percussions and moog synth. bruce plays it all. drum set, percussion. he is also the tympanist in the jacksonville symphony, amazing what a great job!!! i really appreciate that connection we have thru drums percussion and especially the tympani. i was the tympanist in a very cool orchestra way back. i actually still own two timpani. we got to konk at his house getting to talk with his wife cristy and daughter haley. so comfortable and homey.
from watt:
pop at seven after seven, ain't that a trip. there's a little kitty here that looks like a little version of my "man" cat, one I had for fourteen years (speaking of fourteen years - I think it was fourteen years since playing in baton rouge... crimony, it's been thirty-something since I've played jackson - what the fuck is wrong w/me?! don't answer that... not enough pages in the diary, correct?) and I loved dearly, a tabby w/gray mackerel markings. crimony. very friendly and kitty-like. the coff is cafe bustelo, yowai (weak) but at least I'm most grateful it ain't flavored... ain't into flavored coff, not to sound like some stuck-up but whoa, 'pert-near gags me. brian's a bass brother, alright! he's got the squire version of the bass VI - this is what I use as proof that for me bass is more a "four string drum set" rather than a "four string guitar" cuz it's tuned an octave down from the guitar like a bass BUT it don't have the girth like a bass, the fuckin oomf and I think that bears on you work it. I really dig the parts mike wrote for me for these new mssv tunes... actually I did ALL the parts he's written for all the tunes we do... some people are amazed he does that but I'm way into cuz it's something that's never happened w/me - not even d boon wrote me bass parts. usually when I help somebody, I learn the parts of their "gone guy" but in mssv, mike scores the bass just for me - ain't that bitchin? I think so. anyway, he's got some real econo parts I can dig into like a drummer who's part of ensemble... of all the other stuff to play, drums is the number one thing I would like to learn but I've always be scared to try it so in the meantime (more like forevertime), I'm gonna do some "cosplay drummer" on the bass. I get a message from wally bong, our bong watt: collab #4 is getting airplay, much respect for those open-minded cats making that happen. me and brian start talking about driving and all the pendejos fucking that up by acting like, well, pendejos. we get into good stuff too though, like music... he's in a band here in baton rouge called heavy mantle which I gotta check soon as I can, him being a bass brother and all. he's got a bunch of righteous cats at different stages of life and temperament, from a kitty way active to a less-youger one mostly konked on the couch to an outside one won't come in, a spectrum.
we pull anchor at noon, there's clouds but not too hot and we head on east on I-10... fuck, I forgot when we crossed into mississippi, so sorry about that (baka watt)... soon we get to I-55 and go north on that. around twenty of two (after a taunt via a bullshit "pilot" reconstruct a couple of exists earlier and totally avoiding a puffed-up golden arch-jive) I get us off just before mccomb to a "loves" and put gas in the boat at $2.57/gallon. big long squeegee for hodge to get maximum torque and really clean job w/the windshield... prolly longest handled squeegie of the tour yet, I'm really into it and most grateful to hodge... I ask him for a sack of hot peanuts, miss hiyori brings ensalata. onward... I-55 parallels much of us-61 and a thirteen mile stretch of it's now called the "robert johnson memorial highway" in honor of the man himself, I'm way into it and owe him much even though he was on guitar - remember, d boon was on guitar and you know how much I owe him? same w/marc bolan. crimony. me and mike get to talking about books about music cats and finds me some using his leash and the internet on mary lou williams that I've read much about but wanna get specific on her story, can't wait.
the gig tonight's in the part of jackson and I get us there at three and a half and park in the back of the gig pad, the end of all music which is also a record store. my ankles seem to be getting a little big - I miss my elliptical trainer so I'm gonna start doing some daily hobbles to help w/that... I do one for a few blocks and visit the front of the gig pad and damn if tim from bark ain't there, so good to see him again! he had surgery to help his hands and they worked, great to hear that. he says sue just had knee surgery and she's healing up from that. ain't it a trip that brian had that fender VI baritone guitar this morning in baton rouge? I say that cuz tim rocks a fender VI in his bark band w/sue (she's on drums and sings)... man, ain't life a trip w/the unexpected connects it can bring, huh? tim took mike to get us chow and I have two al pastor tacos and two carnitas - they've got avocado slices, makes me think of cali! I don't dig the number four though so I chow a maki from the "little tokyo" chow pad next door miss hiyori gets me. she says latin cats made and china lady worked register - like sly says, "it's not where you're from, it's where you're at" and that for me is so fuckin right on. amen.
no sound check, where in the back and outside (the rain quit a couple of hours ago), first band hit's at six and a half - the chris alford, tyler tadlock and bruce golden trio and I dig their set much. while they were setting up I hollered art tripp at drummerman bruce when he mentioned doing trippy stuff along w/classical music percussion work. all three cats made together a very interesting conversation for me, big respect to them. next was I jam w/zack leading w/singing guitar and singing, haley on bass, eric on other guitar and austin on drums - told us on the mic he got the tunes for the set together four days ago, crimony. it is a short set but that's the way they wanted it, the way they planned it. again, amen.
our turn is at a quarter of nine and I enjoy it much. last time in jackson for me was in 1991 at a pad called the _midnight sun_ and I'm thinking that is too long... I'm so grateful to the respect these jackson gig-goers show us, truly. we have a p.a. prob w/bof mike's mic cable and the amp's power cable but that gets resolved. there's something about an outdoor gig that can bring a real neat thing to a gig and after the challenging acoustics of last night, I get a sense of "rally" (different from making up for blowing clams) from tonight's gig, it's trippy how life can bring this kind of stuff too.
when we get done I get much kind words from the very nice jackson gig-goers, the I jam guitarman eric tells me he was in my pedro town for an art thing at angles gate cultural center and didn't know he was in the building right next to my prac pad - thought he find me hobbling in our downtown, crimony! he remember the railroad club in the building next to me (where I filmed this video w/spike jonze 'pert-near thirty yeas ago). I talk much w/a bassman I can't remember his name who drives many miles for my gigs - I feel like such a baka but we talk much about bass (I have him check out my wattplower), jim's amps and speakerboxes too... I get so much good word about jim's stuff - I am big time happy to share whatever I can tell cuz he really helped me in so many ways, bringing my sound and bringing these things physically to do it w/out having to compromising anything, actually big time gaining cuz these smaller equipments (like w/the short scale ken and joe's wattplower) are very happening w/where I'm at in my journey through life, damn if it ain't a mindblow but that's the reality of it. I really feel I can bring my expression more from inside me directly w/this stuff. the nathan's "single slice" w/it's 350 volt tube is another part - these three things, really add up to help watt bring bass these days, ain't that a trip? I think it's cuz of the people first and then the gear... we can't get to materialistic about stuff, correct? I think we'll lose our sense of priorities otherwise. people first, then objects... I mean people are made up of stuff but then their filled w/spirit, correct? a lady name lucy stows my bajo correct and tells me about a fanzine she made in honor of david pao(I made https://redparakeet.bandcamp.com/album/mike-watt-papa-mthis split seven inch w/him last year) and also shows me a first edition "paranoid time" minutemen seven inch - I check the spacing between the tunes and the wide spread is there, crimony! zack joins me and lucy to spiel about punk stuff in the time I got left here... damn, I wanna spiel more w/them, I invite them bof on to my show when I get back to my pedro town, real good cats and they inspire me!
we shove off for drummerman bruce's pad and have a rap w/this young man christian via his daughter's leash about all kinds of stuff from the old days, amazing how he knows all these things about us minutemen, the huskers, meat pups, black flag - all kinds! beautiful to rap w/him. once done, I hose off and am soon out on the air mattress in the living room, the kitty here giving me a short visit first, very kind.
thursday, birmingham 27, 2025 - birmingham, al
from mike:
Hit my head two times
Finally the 'cue is open
Stained pants, but laundry
from hodge:
i got to cook some eggs for breakfast, using the cast iron skillet, gotta make sure it’s completely dry after you clean it. they had a beautiful loaf of bread the kind you slice youself and some cinnamon muffins. very kind and gracious hosts.
good ole saturn it's not often that you get a venue named after sun ra the inter galactic spiritual band leader composer poet born in 1914 in birmingham, alabama. this is a really great venue large stage coffee shop bar and a fine fine soundman daniel, cool lightman who's name eludes me. we have worked here several times. i had a couple of wtf space outs last night in our set, but all in all my drumming is coming together as we fine tune and adjust the material as we always do. these guys are always observing and dialing the parts as we relate to one another. kinda intense this music, it is not for the faint of heart. today we head into the florida trifecta as watt put it this morning.
from watt:
pop at six forty. there's cof happening cuz of instructions from bruce here last night... I had a real good konk. it's important but damn if it's automatic and so I'm most grateful when it happens. I chimp diary, I get photos together - that's a prob cuz I'm behind w/that... it's not just get the photos together, it's coding them into the diary for the hoot page and I'll get to it. one thing is your host pops and I feel I gotta spiel w/them, one) cuz they're so kind to having us aboard, two) I dig it and wanna spiel! bruce asks me to choose a neko ('cat' in jap) from five his daughter harper sewn up, I get the blue one. we spiel on music, on improvised music. I can tell he feels music is vital to him like it's vital to me. hodge makes me up some scrambled eggs and gives me a bowl, real good and most kind of him. tyler and lucie come by to pick bruce up for a gig they got in knoxville at the big ears fest (mssv did one a couple years ago), so very kind he was to us and lucie and tyler are really good cats also, they tell me they have a proj they call sad bath going, much respect. I also just get an email from zach, the singer of the second band I shared the stage w/last night, crimony! I'm so grateful for these jackson connects I'm making this tour, yatta! joe baiza yanks my leash, so good to hear from him, ain't really spoke since our tour last fall much and here it is so we catch up, making a downtown l.a. (where he lives) to jackson (where I am now, at bruce's pad) connect, not all modern technology is total nightmare, letting two old friends spiel w/each other, just as vital as spieling w/a new buddy like bruce here... joe baiza asks me to be part of a benefit gig w/him and matt crane for "harold's place" in pedro who's got a new owner that's got a jazz night going once a month - I'm way into that. this pad in fact is across the street (pacific avenue, just south of eighteenth street) from where he lived under d boon where in the minutemen started in january of 1980... if you could see these building into the alley, you'd see these pads at 519 e 18th street here in pedro. crimony, that was 'pert-near fortyfive fuckin years ago! glad to be w/joe baiza to do this gig, so glad! I tell mike baggetta and he says he's gonna ask joe baiza to join us on the last gig of this in frogtown at zebulon, fuckin yatta! love joe baiza big time.
we pop at eleven and a half cuz of me not be ready like a baka. so sorry. also I fail to negotiate freeway move and have us backtrack to get back on track via I-20 east. crimony. I use the boat's carplay dealio to do the navigatore stuff my garmin nuvi gps used do via the "apple maps" on the apple iphone smartleash my sister melinda got me but it can't help if you don't help it, not a bad way to keep things a little in check but lame if you lame out on that part (the using your own head part). the weather's most happening, yatta! pass through peavy-town (meridian) and cross the state border into alabama at one, eight minutes later get fuel for the boat at $3.00/gallon at a "marathon" at the york offramp. I fill the piss bottle and do empty. back on I-20 east, we got the carplay doing shuffle w/the usb drive mp3s giving us much wire and john coltrane, trippy what constitutes "shuffle" in some coders minds, huh? the weather is really happening, not too hot and no rain or threatening stuff like big winds or clouds, am way into it. lots of pendejos making the road not so safe - I give them wide birth w/slow-mo swerve to avoid - the wack thing about is though that I do this at the speed limit, no "little ol' lady from pasadena" crawlin crab - it's just these cabrons speed and tailgate like fuckin fools. crimony. we notice the end of guardrails (usually at overpasses and off ramps), either their twisted up hideous-like or shiny-bright new cuz they've just been replaced... 'pert-near every fuckin one. it ain't just these parts either, it's everywhere we go... getting to be an asshole is fully an equal-opportunity-employer, I shit thee not.
we get into a formerl industry part (birmingham you can tell was some kind of steel town at one point) on the east side and I drop anchor at the gig pad saturn just after three. this pad is bitchin in so many ways, first cuz brian birdstuff is the jefe, the second is the konk space part and third, there's an inside way to stow the boat. the latter has to happen in the driveway though cuz of the moving the gear past it switch, also for tonight's openers, local called mighty menace for their stuff. we check w/soundman daniel by just working on parts of our tunes that need it, way into that cuz that's the final enchilada the gig-goers get and not a bunch of components isolated and one at a time, correct?
we get done and outside is old buddy hol and her son aidan who have come from huntsville. we go chow across the street at "black market bar + grill" and it's real good to bof shovel that and spiel w/hol (aidan does some also but on only tiny bits), actually that's better than the shoveling though it's very good and also my part of the spiel is kind of lame and I think even have recycled some from a past windbag w/her, I think her daughter ruby was w/her then instead of aidan, damn me. the part of me chowing mostly what I cook myself now and how I do it is ok though even if though was fuckin rerun land senior moment routine, damn me for that but not for the content. I can't tell you how chowing better has helped my health, 819 days of no alcohol for me to is prolly is still bigger but I was getting better results before that commitment when I went to way more self-cook about five years ago. ok, spiel done and back to the boat so I can konk, I am tuckered and hol knows this dance much, she's been to my gigs since the 90s.
I saw the openers at the chow pad and said hi but damn if I konk through their gig and only awake when mike rousts me minutes before our nine pm on-stage appointment. damn me but a man's gotta know his limitations, correct? if I konk that hard, some part important to me must've needed and so I give sway. we bring our set and right like that the birmingham gig-goers are w/us, crimony. big time kindness like what mark from nashville earlier showed me today by the boat, dylan too who was also at the jackson show and got here from new albany in mississippi, most kind bassbrothers to make the schlep to support, big respect to them. the gig is a good one though the tube in my sushi box "single slice" goes microphonic and I gotta yank out of the chain to jim's amp w/a couple of tunes left in the set. "swerve to avoid" is always a good philosophy and go-to plan I've found to have in life when the sitch calls for it.
much good word from the b'ham gig-goers after and I'm so glad for them, most kind. a few bassbrothers too and damn if they're ain't witnesses from the "city stages" festival thirty fuckin years ago though they were kids and I was a grown (kind of) man. time is a fuckin freight train.
upstairs the most righteous konk pad I've even had in fortytwo years of touring, I get to rap some w/pad jefe brian and it's just the best, so much respect for him and we have a good time w/some spiel. I sign some stuff for bassbrother dylan also too before that, said bye to hol and aidan too, so glad they were here. I hose off and konk in just chones tonight, that's how safe I feel here.
friday, march 28, 2025 - tallahassee, fl
from mike:
History lesson
No voice monitors, oh well
Sorry for yelling
from hodge:
wow what a great venue vibe wise. ok the monitors on stage not so good, but alex our sound person was very cool! and the food was amazing. not many of our venues have in house food. the bark featured vegan fare, amazing salads, i had a pesto sandwich please don't tell anyone i had dairy cheese. yum! i saw miss hiyori's salad and got secretly jealous so i ordered one to go... on the road not always easy to get all your leafy greens and such. the opening band "Band of Names" we have worked with before, they were amazing!!! just so happens that we get to again stay at their leader singer and 2nd bass players home. yes two basses and two guitars & drums. very expressive and dynamic singer christen is. fantastic ensemble sound great playing by each player. deb, christen and sasha are such great people and extremely gracious hosts. after the gig there is always a full plate of vegetables and humus chips and chunky salsa. in the morning endless hot coffee and way more food than we could eat. scrambled eggs giant fruit bowl bacon sausage we pretty much avoid bread as it's such a simple carb turn to sugar and who needs more sugar. i get so into the moment i forget that photos are a great way to share the love. so sadly i don't have photos of our hosts and their fabulous home we got to be in last night. one of these days alice... i will get the photos more together.
from watt:
pop at seven. try to get photos I've taken from the tour together, gotta get them up in the diary. of course I got much work to keep recent w/people email-wise also, important on tour like it is back in my pedro town. sometimes I'm sent most enlightening stuff... not his but I got this poem from charley plymell in an email and it makes me think.
since I am convinced
that reality is in no way
real.
how am I to admit
that dreams are dreams?
- saigyo hoshi 1118-1190
I also get an email from brother sam saying he's working on new cuz stuff that involves bof charley's words and his voice - you cannot know how happy that makes me... I gave him bass for eight tunes for a cuz proj called "sideways eight" that was a spring board for eight spiels charlie recorded and then brother sam would bring the rest which means all the other music to go w/it and then mix the whole enchilada. hopefully we can tour it - I would love to sally-forth as cuz w/brother sam again, we did a tour ten years ago... crimony, does time fucking fly! stuff got in the way though, he's raising a family and stuff while still helping ian w/his the go! team at the same time. I dig him much and sure would like to bring music to people again w/him, also the charley connect is most bitchin cuz I love him too.
the saturn pad boss brian has chow delivered to us in brown sacks, how kind of him. it's scrambled eggs, bacon and toast which is something I 'pert-near chow any more but I imagine him there spieling w/us and use my hashi to get it down. sunshine through the windows is spelling out good weather, I'm most grateful. we pull anchor at ten and a half, bye bye birmingham... I don't blow any moves so we get out to the beltway and then south on I-65... about twenty of one, just past hank william's montgomery town, I get us off to a "mapco" filling station, $2.80/gallon to fill the boat and I 'pert-near fill (I ain't no tom watson w/his talents for getting it right to the brim) my piss bottle before "watering" some nearby wishes w/it, making it now empty. may the circle remain unbroken, correct? today's drive is a lot of smaller state and us highway roads vs interstate like usual, just the geography of the sitch. we get to the border w/florida just before three and not further fuel up again in marianna at a "chevron" $3.00/gallon. on I-10 going east, crossing the apalachicola river puts us now in the eastern u.s. time zone, three hours ahead of my pedro town. we'll be for a while now and changing time zones will add us an hour instead of taking one away. damn if this ford transit-150 audio system doing mp3 s from a usb stick also does the audio for the mp4s I got on their too, crimony! we get "the chimes of big ben" (on some lists considered episode five, some episode two, etc - it has leo mckern as number two, love this actor man!) from "the prisoner" series and though I've watched all seventeen episodes buttloads of times, it's the first time I've experienced one w/out visuals. of course I know what's up cuz I know the stuff going on so well, in my mind I know exactly what's going on - ain't that a trip? crimony. by the way, there was an alternate version - this ain't it though.
I get us into tallahassee and to the bark a quarter of six... tonight's gig boss brian was in "the cow haus" maybe a block away twentytwo years ago when ig called me after a secondmen souncheck if I would do bass for the first stooges gig in twentynine years... I thought it would be one gig and in turned into a hundred twentysix months! crimony. the soundlady alex is way happening and does a check w/us... looks (sounds) like no monitors but hey, that ain't stopped me before. the gig's for the gig-goers, correct? I know soundlady alex will do her best to bring good sound to them.
they chow us here, I get trippy tacos made w/a kind of chicken trip that ain't actually meat that I dig much, even crunchy w/a neat sauce and greens, I dig it. now it was a six hour drive and damn if that didn't tucker me out so I go hobble around (remember my ankles, gotta hobble some every day now cuz no elliptical trainer for me out on the road) and then it's to the boat for konk.
I konk so hard, I miss the openers band of names who opened for us last time, damn me. I got only so much gas in my tank I believe, I am so sorry. mike and his music deserve the best I can bring for him - hodge too - so I gotta relent and do what's most healthy, just gotta. so sorry cuz they're really nice cats and really dug them last time we were together.
mike gets minutes before the ten go time. we bring it and yeah, it's a hard one, a real challenge w/out being able to hear mike sing... for sure the worst monitors of the tour (like none) but the tallahassee gig-goers need the best we can bring I feel so try and focus hard for them. good news is the sushi box 'single slice' works great... maybe it got too hot last night? I get the good word after for my sound/tone/whatever from more than a few bassbrothers and I'm digging that. I know it ain't all gear but still, good to have stuff aiding and abetting for you.
there's cats from years ago - one helps me schlep and we institute a solution I thought of for the slipping speakerbox cover: wheels after instead of fore, capito? works great, why didn't I think of it earlier... slow learner watt! I get to see video of middle school cat (yeah, they don't say "junior high" like in the days when I was there) doing "brave captain" I wrote w/ed fROMOHIO thirtynine years ago. so glad his pop brought him tonight. glad everyone who came, came, most kind truly - even if it was a tough gig, it's great to try your best for cats who appreciate what you're trying to bring.
chris has a different pad then last time we konked w/him but it's just as happening for me... I hose off in a great shaua and then this time make sure I'm in my nightwear (I konk better this way) and am soon out, must be twelve and a half which is real late for watt. crimony.
saturday, march 29, 2025 - orlando, fl
from mike:
So much fruit today
Many florida friends, bright sounds
Plus my wife and dogs
from hodge:
sorry folks my dog ate my homework on this one.
from watt:
pop at five of eight - now being in this time zone maybe had its effects on watt? it was a real good konk, my body and mind tells me that. shovel bacon and eggs again - two days in a row now. crimony. the man who helped me w/the loading last night is here and joins in on the spiel I got w/chris and deborah's son sasha - me and sasha were investigating philosophy things but this man is more history and its connects so we switch to that, I fucking get into it. a younger man (maybe fourteen?) and less younger man (maybe in fifties?) bof getting watt lit w/interesting spiel, yes!
pull anchor twenty minutes past the noon go-time due to fuckin yammering, damn me. skies have huge puffy clouds and it's 82º f but kind of moderate for these parts so I'm happy. there was a parade earlier (we're two block of the governor's pad - a big reason chris and deborah wanna move and it ain't cuz of the pad but who's fouling it right now) so getting out is a little slow but not impossible, soon we're east on the I-10 I bring up and idea I've pleading to him for the last couple of tours: a hodge solo album. he don't have to be the only one playing it on it but for sure him being the shot-caller, I would love listening to something like that... hodge says he's gonna make that happen. second interesting development involving hodge is mike's idea for upcoming next mssv album recording (due to go down day after this tour's last gig) is to have him use marimbas on some tunes - yes! I way fuckin into that. righteous. hodge sent a woodblock going to mike's pad so sunday we bring that aboard and what's a marimba w/a bunch of woodblocks that can rock melodies along w/rhythm and harmony - even two mallets can get a two-note chord, correct? love the stuff art trip (ed marimba) brought to the magic band, love it. can't wait to see what happens. we cross the suwanee river, bof weather and traf fine. I steer us down I-75 south w/stau after stau, plug plug plug - the navigatore taking us off for some stoplight reach-around and then back on 'til the next clump of car-turd to engage the whata-seems infinite rerun nightmare. crimony. just after two and a half at a "wa wa" in the town mike lives in these days, gainesville which is also where our last gig of "the florida trifecta" ends tomorrow night... the gas is $3.24/gallon and hodge skips windshield clean, head call must've been urgent and I big time accept and understand. this tour I've use 'pert-near any heads at the gas stops and instead us the piss bottle I stow in the hatch next to me, fits good and the cap seals tight. of course on top it's labeled "piss" to keep things clear.
right at five and a half I get us to will's pub in orlando and was that a fuckin lame last hour and a half getting here, stop and go on many side roads to get on and off the fucking florida turd pipe to dodge the fucking plugs. crimony. it can fuckin wear on you, correct? the main thing is we arrive safe. they got cones up for us for fucking righteous parking, yatta! quick we load in and set up, check also quick w/soundman mason who is cook people, he says timothy eerie is in one of the openers, fuckin alright! I met this cat last time (and my first time) playing this pad and really dug the way he brings music, much respect to him. can't wait. for our check, mike does his kind of "autumn leaves" - we had three different versions (miles davis', john coltrane's and billie holiday's) in the boat on the way, crimony. tonight first opener is led by an a cat I met a long time ago when he was at the "north six" in brooklyn, ny: bob d'amico and he's been living more south of here in florida (palm beach) for the last five years. photoman gabe lowenberg made the hellride to get here, he did the photos you've been seeing to promote this mssv tour, took them last time we were in tampa.
great to see gabe again and I wish I could spiel more w/him but I am tuckered from our own hellride here and must konk - mike brings me tacos that got good filling but something w/the tortillas and they big time totally fall apart so I just stuff my in-hole w/mouf-fulls, wash them down w/mineralauga.
I konk hard and am woke by bob bringing his "no chief" proj and I'm digging it big time. whoa, he's some drummerman, much respect. I can tell why lou got him to be the latest sebadoh stickman w/the beat in his hand - does the same w/jason's proj also, yes. next up are locals lemon denim and I'm up front to catch a face full of this, fully into it - they got timothy eerie who blew my mind seventeen months ago at this very pad! wonder what it's gonna be? it's fucking bitchin and I love it, get inspired for our set next - what better gift can one artist cat bring for another than bringing it to get then lit, correct? much respect. same second guitarman and drummie as timothy eeirie (w/us last time here at this pad) but different bassman and keyboard plus a sister who came up and sang along casey for a few. I really really dig their gig. christina's here and right w/me watching up close, she tells me she worked w/the main man at some pad. she shows me a picture of her little minga dog, adorable.
our turn at ten - hell, we're on stage and ready ten or something minutes early so I spiel w/some of the orlando gig-goers, so many friendly cats up front and so I rap w/them... you wanna know how to make time fly? down-beat moment comes and we bring it. challenging stage, kick drum booming some, guitar a little shrill and maybe not as w/the dynamics which for me is kind of trippy cuz mike's always got a good handle on that so I know it's the acoustics of the sheer bulkheads and them also being parallel reflective surface dealios. the orlando gig-goers are most kind to us. someone goofed and said "here it comes" and blew my little spiel some in "boat song" and I reacted maybe like did last night in tallahassee but they really are very happening to bring this music for, much respect to them.
I rap w/a cat who recognizes the "number six" jacket my sister melinda made me from scratch that I'm wearing, we spiel about that some, his buds seem interested, fucking right on! jen wants me to play her wattplower before I sign it, no prob. I speak w/her and ben they can watch all seventeen episodes of "the prisoner" for free via youtube so what's stopping her... I suggest this cuz she says she saw of them long ago and it's hard to remember - this happens as I "interrogate" her of some of the shows "factoids" that I think reveal certain trippy things. I sign the pickguard of a bassbrother who rocks a mark I wattplower and damn if we don't get to spieling about scissoring sugar and fighting this diabetes and related bullshit that crap can bring. we can do it we agree!
outside I get to rap w/lemon denim mainman casey (found a happening interview w/him here) and his bassman patrick... he seems to imply there's something lame about coming to bass via guitar but I tell him it's ok, I tell him what sly stone said, "it's not where you're from, it where you're at" and I sincerely believe that. I thought he did really great! I then give my email address again (did it last time we played) to casey, I really want him on my show and learn about his journey through music, really do. jim faherty's here - he did all my orlando gigs in the old days, konked at his pad buttloads of times, love this man. we talk about me doing a minutemen tune ("bob dylan wrote propaganda songs") w/melt-banana at one of his pads... he said it blew his mind - mine too! it's all about people, I'll say that over and over cuz I sincerely believe it. cameraman jim leatherman's here also, much respect!
whew, I wheel the boat not too far away to a bud of mike's named mike, used to help sam rivers, whoa... raymond took me to see him in hollywood on his eighty bday. he's got just the room for the air mattress and I hose off and am soon konking on it - latest konk of the tour, one and a half. crimony.
sunday, march 30, 2025 - gainesville, fl
from mike:
I rejoin the band
Beat some crazy rain and wind
More friends, good gig, home
from hodge:
our gig was in tallahassee, florida the venue was the bark. wow what a great venue vibe wise. ok the monitors on stage not so good, but alex our sound person was very cool! and the food was amazing. not many of our venues have in house food. the bark featured vegan fare, amazing salads, i had a pesto sandwich please don't tell anyone i had dairy cheese. yum! i saw miss hiyori's salad and got secretly jealous so i ordered one to go... on the road not always easy to get all your leafy greens and such. the opening band "Band of Names" we have worked with before, they were amazing!!! just so happens that we get to again stay at their leader singer and 2nd bass players home. yes two basses and two guitars & drums. very expressive and dynamic singer christen is. fantastic ensemble sound great playing by each player. deb, christen and sasha are such great people and extremely gracious hosts. after the gig there is always a full plate of vegetables and humus chips and chunky salsa. in the morning endless hot coffee and way more food than we could eat. scrambled eggs giant fruit bowl bacon sausage we pretty much avoid bread as it's such a simple carb turn to sugar and who needs more sugar. i get so into the moment i forget that photos are a great way to share the love. so sadly i don't have photos of our hosts and their fabulous home we got to be in last night. one of these days alice... i will get the photos more together.
from watt:
pop a little after seven and learn about this earthquake in southeast asia that just happened and immediately think of brother tav so I write him to see if he's ok, he writes back:
On Sun, 30 Mar 2025 20:57:25 +0700, Tav Falco wrote:
>
> Watt, thanks for thinking about me.
> Fortunately I live 64 km down the
> coast from Bangkok and was spared
> the tragic effects of the catastrophic
> quake. Over 80 construction workers
> are still trapped inside rubble of
> collapsed skyscraper. They cannot
> breathe. Workers always the price.
>
> Buon viaggi,
> ~Tav
>
>
> www.tavfalco.com
>
>
he's so correct about workers getting the short stick... glad he's ok but what he says makes me think of what d boon would tell me. crimony, I'm so lucky to know such cats, it means much to watt. I go piss and then start chimping diary. matt's got a bitchin pad w/a feel that really let me konk good and steady, he cooks up buckwheat pancakes - I don't eat pancakes anymore but I'll try three of these... good job, matt! after the shovel, I spiel w/matt where in the room where I konked... matt teaches music so there's much to spiel about regarding that, crimony! of the many things we discus, matt recommends "easily slip into another world" by henry threadgill and I'm most grateful for this and all the stuff he shared. his buddy pat green came by to contribute also, team effort on watt, diggin it!
pull anchor quarter after go-time twelve cuz I 'pert-near donated 'puter craptop like a fuckin baka! crimony. sky looks heavy, no blue showing. we're on very little of the I-4 before our journey continues mainly on smaller state and us-hwy roads... small drops start hitting the windshield just before silver springs where I pull us over for a piss stop at a "circle k" just before two, done w/out fueling the boat. onward north, soon we hear the boat's ford sound system choose from my usb stick a 2004 bbc doc on john coltrane... it finishes just as we get into gainesville and the rain starts. we find parking in a lot near (but not near enough) tonight's gig pad loosey's and our big rain of this tour really starts coming down for about forty minutes once I drop anchor, I mean it's lightning, thunder and buttloads of water coming down, we stay in the boat to weather it, I chimp diary. just before four, the downpour relents and mike finds us parking way nearer the gig pad. we try to load in as quick as possible... we get some in but have to halt cuz down it comes again. someone pulls out behind us, I get the boat one space more back... hey, the future belongs to the efficient or what? crimony. I come inside the pad and realize I think I played this pad or a part of it (maybe this was a part of it?) once when it was called "market..." something like twenty years ago? either that or it's a "senior moment" which I definitely won't rule out but it does seem kind of big time familiar. my favorite gig in gainesville was "the covered dish" when bill bryson ran it, love that man - he told me a couple of days ago he can't make it cuz of health stuff but I'm doing this gig for him tonight.
mike brings me tacos carnitas from some place near which is happening cuz the chow here at the gig pad (I see hodge has beens shoveling some) is typical stuff being slung these days doesn't keep me healthy on tour while tacos autentica do, 'nuff said. I dig these, much better than yesterday's. I chimp diary while we wait for the soundman to show. I'm so glad we didn't have to drive in that deluge, so glad. get an email from derek monypeny, says there's an east bay record store label w/a bitchin name: econo jam records - he moved some corsano baiza watt trio albums their way, yes, thank you!
we check w/soundman dave and then I chimp diary over by the merch table in between getting visited by several bassbrothers - love to spiel about bass but one reason being in the boat instead of the gig pad besides konking is having the opportunity for uninterrupted diary chimping... however, I love spieling about all things bass so actually it's a personal conflict w/me on this matter. I just love bass so much and sharing spiels w/this stuff which ain't just gear but concepts on where it is w/music and how to bring it, they all really interest me. at home online I interact w/cats via talkbass.com when the spiel seems sincerely and truly about the bass' evolution in the universe of music and not just shit-hoarding the "correct gear" or whatever fucked-up fetish to waste a life on. I can't tell you how much music has been a life-line for me, just can't. bass is my main way to connect w/that and like the movement, sincere cats who share these bass/music ideas w/me build a fuckin righteous community I dig being part of, dig it big time.
I hear the opener rm 13 and though I don't see him (like bob d'amico last night in orlando), I'm digging what the sounds, very creative and also like bob, I understand he's in man-alone mode. last year on tour w/il sogno del marinaio, the improved sequence boss jonathan said I should try the man-alone mode for a tour but crimony, I don't think I have the cojones. I have to get some konk before our set and by going to the boat, I miss the next band, ironing, damn me for not being strong enough, I am so sorry.
mike rousts me w/eight minutes to go, I make my way slowly cuz though the rain's stopped, it's very wet. I'm ready to go w/in a minute cuz of mike always getting my stuff ready. we bring it and again we got a challenging sitch w/the room's acoustics but the gainesville gig-goers compensate in the much the same way the orlando ones did though they bring even more focus to our tiny parts... mike doesn't have to sit in a holding pattern to make our point clear it's time to cease w/the fucking yammering. they're most kind. I do 'pert-near fuck up hodge's "more fun w/drums" part in the dick hell tune but it's just one note and not the whole third verse in the wrong fuckin place like I did maybe in dallas? whatever, I gotta focus more, I wanna do good for mike, hodge and the gig-goers, just gotta focus like my life depends on it cuz in a way, it does. I dig living for music, for bass - it's a solid thing to have a reason for being for me.
we finish up and I talk to more cats about bass from the stage, yes! right from my chair I can point out stuff on my bass (lots of talk about how much I use bof the volume and tone controls - bof passive - I use them buttloads during the set cuz of the room, the tune, everything), my amp, even my little board I got a couple of things on - the chain goes in this order: hpf, tuner, overdrive (not used yet on this tour), compressor/hot tube. never been much of stompbox guy but this stuff seems to help me and it's tiny. I'm the last one on the stage for the first time this tour, that's how much bass spiel I bring! crimony. some other spiel though also, a local gives me some local music from planet ten and whore culture - this cat saw me in hollywood at the "club lingerie" way back, get this: I am not completely insane... a gainesville gig-goer gives me the date even of when I played in a part of this building called the "market street pub" november 3, 2004 w/my secondmen on the "el mar cura todo tour" (please scroll down to the last gig entry to find relevant spiel from raul, peetzo and myself) - crimony! what a kind man to do such a thing for a forgetful baka like myself. crimony, last night I realized me and casey are labelmates on nomad eel records (brother damon!), based in my pedro town... ain't life a fuckin trip?!
all loaded up (mike's wife des helped w/the schlep - most kind of her, truly!), we head over to mike's pad cuz he lives in this town, not too far away. it's a different pad than last time I stayed w/him but the same neighbor hood. I dig his pad, a very nice shower to hose off w/also a very nice kitty to get me konked, plenty of space in the front room for the air mattress - that kitty just jumped right on aboard on its own freewill - no summoning from watt. maybe that's a good sign? I think so...
monday, march 31, 2025 - savannah, ga
from mike:
Leaving home again
Thanks Panhandle Slim, Andrew
Hodge is dialed in!
from hodge:
we woke up at mike desola's beautiful home in gainesville. lots of space high ceilings and a screened in back patio type room. it's so tropical here in comparison to long beach, cali where i live. the sounds the birds make here is really exotic got to see a few squirrels climbing up really tall trees, and a big hawk flying high. i was hoping not to see that hawk getting breakfast by zeroing in on that little squirrel, i did not. desola has made blueberry pancakes twice for us now, amazing!!! thank you again desola.... pulled anchor from their house at 11:00 am now we are parked behind tonight's venue. el rocko's lounge in savannah, georgia. we got here pretty early. needing to fix a ding in the windshield of the boat. a rock on the freeway got us, dang!!! stopped at an auto zone to buy a couple patch kits. now inside rocko's gonna get set up before some heavy weather shows up and stops our progress.
from watt:
pop just after seven... second pop cuz first one was about three hours later and was happening cuz it got me out of a fuckin lame-ass nightmare where there was much violence on me but two assholes I can't remember who they resembled now but it was way fucked up. nothing I could do about it and much auto-repeat, them w/baseball bats and knocking the shit out of me, 'pert-near tactile sensations even. crimony. it was truly the horror the horror. such a relief and I get so grateful when I pop and realize the motherfucker's a dream and not a reality on the dealio (as my old buddy jov would say... jov was part of locomotive w/matt crane a few years ago).
I get in the boat today on time (noon) so it ain't my fault we're nine minutes late. what the fuck anyway, correct? this is a good team we got. des is gonna see us in ohio for two gigs, alright! love it. north we go w/calm weather - no rain, not too hot... in twenty minutes we stop at a "bp" in waldo (home of bill bryson!) and fuel the boat for $2.86/gallon first test of this wex gas price website finder I found... mike digs it. just after one we cross the stat line into georgia... no music on today's ride, instead there's a rap about atomic stuff and quantum (dr collier has a good spiel on the human talent for laming out a good idea w/cons regarding this subject), good thing it's a short ride? two bells and we take a rock dead center of the windshield, we find an "autozone" ten miles before savannah and mike gets a "permatex windshield repair kit" - two of them (one for back up), said he did it three times w/his tour w/peter back in september so he's got experience. we get back on the interstate after hodge and miss hiyori foul the facilities here, I miss the offramp we need, similar to this morning, similar to trying to leave birmingham last friday... as joe baiza would say, "I'm beginning to detect a pattern" maybe? eventually I get us to downtown savannah (last time I played here was minutemen opening for rem on november 27, 1985) and it takes three times around the block to find a space via bookerman tim in a lot behind the gig pad which is the el rocko lounge and so I put the culo of the boat against its rear bulkhead and drop anchor about twenty after three. hodge goes strolls while mike makes the windshield repair and I chimp diary. it's real sunny, even w/lots of clouds - nothing like when we got to the gig pad yesterday. what's more acute than weather on tour for a cat in his life, correct? my verdict is we've been pretty luck so far on this tour, especially when you're going east cuz that's the direction of the prevailing winds meaning the same storm or storms can be w/you for what seems forever. we're going mostly north now... whoa, tomorrow's d boon's bday, yes!
tim's cool people and we rap a lot about stuff, so great getting in early enough to do things like that. he says he lives fifteen minutes from tybee island and damn if I wasn't talking to mike about a broken arrow incident there in 1958, crimony! inside the gig pad, I dig it... as it's own feel... and three pachinko machines! I remember these from being a boy in navy housing and some cats I knew there's pops brought them back from viet nam tours they got in japan - my pop didn't but he did bring me a plaque w/different knives from the philippines olde-times when he got liberty at subic bay. hung that on my bulkhead forever... wonder where it is now? tim says he just talked to some old time promoter who now lives in north carolina and he says he did a fIREHOSE gig in savannah in the early 90s but I cannot remember that - what about memory stuff, is it easy to get wrong? I think so. I just wish the fuck I started writing diaries back in 1983 (I tried that on that black flag/minutemen one but damn if it ain't fucked up and not at all together) damn me big time for only starting 1998 - that's fuckin fifteen years I could've been and wouldn't have to wonder so much about where and where I didn't fuckin play. mike gets us tacos and the filling's good but the tortilas apart - not as bad as orlando though... not to sound like a snob but there's lots of cats are around to teach those who wanna learn. scott from the the casuey way brings us a mssv painting he's painted, very kind! we have a real good rap, he's most kind people, his son johnny - whoa, I'm impressed much by his knowledge. crimony.
I move the boat and we load in... I stay in the boat and chimp diary... rockin rodney's here from nextdoor in charleston, sc and he's got a giant-brim hat for me, whoa. love this man, he's supported me for 'pert-near forty years. crimony. soon the sky opens up like yesterday, crimony! whoa, he's gotta get his yellow coat on and make for the thai pad he wants to chow in. we check w/soundman cole - we go over a new 'b part' for one of the new tunes w/hodge. mike's buddy andrew sovine is opening up and he has a whole band w/him... I talk a bunch w/the bassman ryan... he knows me from the old days and says he don't know about fIREHOSE playing savannah... gotta let that go but damn if I don't recall, damn me. michael from aerocobra's here, he so kind to get me a soda water, glad to meet him in person, so glad.
andrew's band hits first, really really good band - everyone can play their ass off but at the same time such restraint, love it. drummie jalen, whoa! bassbrother ryan too. singer dolette is fuckin righteous. keyman jared, whoa and andrew on the rudder and working happening guitar - inspiring, truly. our turn and we hit right on the agreed ahead go-time twenty after nine (you don't know how much I love that, sorry but I do!) and I think it's hodge's best gig of the tour, he's really bringing it - I mean he's always trying which also has me always trying... I think bof us really wanna bring what we can for mike. the savannah gig-goers are really good, even in the tiny stuff like "boat song" - much respect to them. I really enjoyed tonight's gig, I cannot wait as long as it's been to play here again.
after the gig too, so much kindness and I rap w/so many nice cats... I shit thee not, there are so many of those w/the good word for watt that come up, I make time for each every one, something I learned since I was a minutemen... I feel it's healthy and am into it. bassbrother michael from here helps w/my stuff, getting it stowed in the boat... he says "double nickels on the dime" really got him through stuff when he was in alaska, can you believe? can't thank the huskers enough for inspiring us minutemen to do that, just can't... the power of a movement and cats learning from each other, huh? this couple from virginia who live here now I was talking to before (they're way into ray barbee - so am I!), I rap w/them again... then I rap w/another couple from virginia from the drivers seat - what are the chance of that? must be fate, huh? thank you georgia - thank you savannha!
it's a little a distance to get the andrew's pad but well worth cuz the boat's safe and his pad's bitchen. plenty of space for the air mattress, right next to a coop w/eight young chickens which are no problem, their clucks are tiny. I hose off and konk quick.
tuesday, april 1, 2025 - charlotte, nc
from mike:
Drank too much coffee
Good gig with recoveries
Jessie’s incense tour
from hodge:
thousand dollar movie opening band lead by jeremy radio. they have a very orchestral sound two guitars bass and drums. really a beautiful sounds blending the two guitars and melodic bass, really top flight great drumming how can you go wrong! ian the soundman we consider the soundman or woman to be the fourth member of our group for the night. they have a large degree of control over our sound, sometimes that's in our favor and sometimes it really works against we have played this club before. this time around it was a completely different experience. prior we had not so good bands opening playing way over their time limit. often times when there are too many opening bands the headliners get taken advantage of, one they wear the ears of the audience out and two some folks get tired of waiting and just leave. booking too many bands is a rookie move and then not controlling their time on stage is another. you want good bands to play yer venue show that you know what a professional show should run like and make it happen.
from watt:
pop quarter after seven, andrew's already up and is making coff... it's d boon's bday today and I would've known him fiftyfive years instead of the fifteen I did. those fifteen made for quite a sea change for me, provided me an anchor also. I have a heavy think about this and the stuff it means... a big reason I'm even chimping what I am right now, huh? people in your life, people in your life... people...
andrew cooks up easy-over fried eggs and bacon for me, same kind of morning chow again - like joe baiza said, "I'm beginning to detect a pattern" but man, it's good and the egg's are from his own chickens so very fresh. andrew is from a music family and he has buttloads of experiences w/such stuff, he shares much and I'm way into hearing about them, really interesting. knows nels cline too... people! ...and the art stuff that connects them, expression - in my case: music. crimony. andrew's wife samita was a sailor, packed parachutes and went to japan... tried to get a boyfriend there but got the no-go... she said it was worth it though cuz the navy showed the world was more than florida (I guess where she was) and I can relate to that seeing how much fortytwo years of touring has learned me. much respect to her and andrew - I invite him on to my show cuz I wanna learn more about his music journey, truly. very interesting cat!
we pull anchor quarter after eleven, looks like the storm blew out and our weather calm and nice... nice and gentle and not rough and wild. north on I-95... there'll be more of this road up and north, along w/more plug... hell, it's getting kind of full here now. crimony. bye bye georgia, at noon we cross into south carolina but no gigs here this tour, just a "transit state" which I hate cuz I dig playing all fifty (yes, once I did alaksa and maybe three times in hawaii) but one tour can have a person do only so many gigs, I am so sorry to enlighten anyone not realizing that to the fact, truly I am. just after one and before getting on I-26 we use the wex app to find gas for $2.66/gallon at an "enmarket" - miss hiyori is sick from what must've been butter andrew inadvertently used to cook her eggs... this after there were mushrooms in her tacos last night (she's allergic to bof dairy an fungi), I feel really bad for her. mike tries his best to protect her from this but stuff slips through sometimes and she gets hammered... actually it can be really dangerous. speaking of abunai ('danger' in jap), some real pendejos in bof passenger cars and big rigs today - of course not everyone and actually some cats who care by driving like they but other fuckin ego-ed out selfish fucks doing the most risky stupid stuff possible, it's a shame. I pull us over just after two and a half at "sharpe shoppe" identical one across the road w/different which makes no difference cuz we use it only to clean the windshields (that last gas pad had no fuckin squeegees!), foul their facilities and mike cuts of the "residue" from his repair job, he did real good w/that. hodge the same w/the window clean, much respect to bof - love touring w/these cats.
soon as we get to the state line w/north carolina (around twenty of four) , we're greeted w/much plug und stau (w/charlotte's only ten miles away too)... living in so cal, I can endure it w/gaman ('patience' in jap) but am so glad we ain't here an hour from now, good call from mike to bail from andrew's when we did. I think harry partch music helps, so grateful to the shuffle picks, the boat's sound system deals us. no blow-bys as I am more together about following the navigatore's instructs and get us to the gig pad snug harbor at quarter after four - no one's here yet so mike forages for chow and hodge just up and wanders. I roll down the boat's window and chimp diary... so very nice w/only some whispy clouds in the skies and 72º f, yes. it's my second time bof playing here and sharing the stage w/thousand dollar movie, bassbrother jeremy radios' band. mssv mad a split single w/them and we've been our tune for it ("even so") every night of this tour. speaking of which, just before five, he appears in his white chevy astro minivan, crimony! so good to see him again, truly. we spiel and catch up on stuff. mike returns w/a return for us to tacos autentica - I know, the last two days we had tacos - but... the real dealio is 'pert-near like night and day and I don't mean that to be picky or whatever - you might agree if you were in the same sitch. my thoughts are it's ok if you have learn but do that: learn to do it so it's happening and not some half-ass in the meantime, capito? if you can focus and have gaman, I think you can more and more get there - another thing sly said: "you can make it if you try."
charles from https://bifocalmedia.com/">bifocal arrives from "three hours" away w/a buttload of ">mike watt skateboard decks, a hundred and ten of them for me to sign... tim kerr has made art to go on the bottom of these that say "stay a student for life" (he signs his name "your name here")... you understand w/my fuckin knees, there is no way I can now or ever could work a skateboard, nope. also when I was a boy the wheels on those then were either steel or this red clay shit that would not let them go out in the street cuz the slightest pebble would cause a rider to go keel up real quick. the only time I was on a skateboard was sitting down on them down a sidewalk in the navy housing in pedro across from the boneyard that's got d boon and my ma's ashes. yeah, sitting down on them like it was a fuckin soapbox derby go-kart, huh? well, that's what we did, to get over pebbles and ever the fuckin cracks in the sidewalk - think about where we got the title for our first new alliance records release! skating has it's connects w/watt... hell, I try to work my bass lots of times like it was a skateboard, I shit thee not. charles asks me to get the word out about these decks and I tell him I will friday - tour needs its focus from the bass or else true sailing is lost!
I have to shave for d boon's bday gig, I want no hige ('beard' in jap), those days are over, mustache ones too. when I was a boy I didn't have one so maybe I go full-circle, huh? I do hate shaving though but what the fuck, there are realities you gotta deal w/and can't talk yourself out of. soundcheck w/soundman ian and then to the boat cuz I'm tuckered. it's bitchin to hear thousand dollar movie though - they are a fuckin great band. replacement drummerman is kickin up much dust too, much respect.
our ten o'clock go-time kind of tells me it's gonna be a tough gig. we're on time but the bass ain't plugged in for the first tune, I see soundman ian come up behind my amp to address that... later he'll tell me it was "in" but there prolly was "no click" and I replied: "that's what she said!" (got that from great singerman mark stewart - HUGE influence on us minutemen) and we'll, there's some challenges let's say - maybe me adding to it... charlotte was the town I last played w/d boon: december 17, 1985 and I was on pete buck's guitar (he told me to get on it) w/all us minutmen w/all of rem doing "see no evil" by television. yeah, my last time w/d boon was not on bass but like the tune (history lesson, part II) says, "me and d boon, playing guitar" - he sang it different than I wrote it cuz I couldn't sing and play at the same time cuz of just starting to use fingers w/the minutemen (all the stuff before that was w/a pick) and so I asked him to do it, like so many other tunes on that bambino. he great though and I hear him sing my words now, playing my chords... I 'pert-near always composed on bass but not that one and the connect was actually hank rollins... he wasn't yet into velvet underground and during the 1983 black flag/minutemen tour we would kind of argue over which music to play in the van so I used the chords kind of to "here she comes now" for my tune about another trippy thing: I fight in the letters section of the flipside regarding what is punk or something real important like that w/us minutemen and tsol being using as the football, very strange. all those cats I dig much: jack, ron, mike - later greg, real good cats... I was trying to relate the human side of the movement, trying to get at some of the fundamentals and though about trying to get the issue down to bare nada w/those words. the movement was about people... I think still is.
ok, I got side-tracked there some... it was a tough gig but well worth bring it to the charlotte gig-goers cuz they were most kind, even w/that stuff outside the hatch. I did try something tonight and don'w know why but in the 'b parts' of "I see through you" I use the fuzz box on my little board (hooker's green bass machine 4k), now I was all fucking stumblebum and it came on and off not too together but I wonder if mike's into it? kind of a foist but I was in a trippy state tonight... d boon never used a box live, never. he did use a green box (ibanez tube screamer) on some recorded solos on "double nickels on the dime" but none live, thought it got in the way of bringing it. d boon sure loved to bring it. sure did.
much kindness to me from the charlotte gig-goers when we finish and I pack up. they pick me up, pick up my spirits. lots of bassbrother, one's the son of a gig-goer and I'm most glad they're bof here, I tell the younger one to never stop - that's what I tell all cats who tell me they work bass cuz that's what I did... well, at first I did but then thurst got me going again w/that ciccone youth thing (NOT the album which I ain't on except my demo for the seven inch - the seven inch w/"burnin' up" b/w "into the groovey" is the only part of ciccone youth watt is part of)... had the wind knocked out of my sails but I was so glad I got back on the horse, the gass uma, capito? soundman ian has me take phtos in this gig pad's photo boof, an olde-timey one. of course, he was a fourth man tonight.
we head over to bassbrother jeremy and jess' pad... mike addresses stuff in the ride over... he's says it was challenging but said we made progress. I dig his debriefings much. I know some cats don't like to talk about gigs right after gigs, don't wanna hear about gigs right after gigs but I do cuz my mind is fresh w/them and then I don't have to regrets later about stuff not getting addressed. if you wanna grow you gotta be open in your mind, open to hear stuff from cats you're working w/and want you on board... and you're on board cuz wanna be on board, it's part of the dealio and it ain't a burden, it's an opportunity to learn. gigs should be like trying to be original on skateboard, you gotta dare but different than a skateboard, you're doing it w/other cats - like lots of stuff in life: a dangling duality. trippy. once we arrive, quick w/the air mattress in the music room, just a few basses here. he's got two wattplowers! I talk to him about the one I'm experimenting w/now. whoa, the first of april always brings trippy thoughts for me but bottom line: they're happening ones. love that man.
wedneday, april 2, 2025 - greensboro, nc
from mike:
Finally hank returns
Ordered en espanol, fail
Missing my loud dogs
from hodge:
three good bands spirit of hamlet thousand dollar movie & mssv. spirit of hamlet was a trio father benjy on guitar and vocals son abraham on bass they were a great vibe. benjy and the drummer had played together for 30 years and the abe on bass was benjy's son. they had a sparse sound so you got to really enjoy the notes they did play. they were not playing like they were being paid by the note... at one point in their set watt sat in with them on bass. abe went to guitar then. that was fun for everyone there. next thousand dollar movie did their cinematic instrumental orchestrations
from watt:
pop a quarter before eight, hose right after cuz I didn't last night... stupid I know, really stupid. jess makes me fried-up salmon along was slices of tortilla spain-style which is like an round omelette w/egg an inch and half thick, nothing like the latin american kind. it's w/black beans and I dig it, coff too... I think bassbrother jeremy and her met w/him working at her coff pad in south carolina, I heard him telling hodge. they bof got such good spirits. we have much happening spiel, lots of stuff. we listen to john coltrane trading fours (w/maybe phily joe jones?), doing prac here. bassbrother jeremy's from south carolina originally and that makes me think of this cat I listen to help me w/keeping the plug in the jug who's got a youtube station called liver disease - nuff said, correct? somehow it helps me - I don't who could watch this stuff except someone w/a problem but it helps... seems he was in the same rain we got the two days before, huh? I back about think about seeing those old musicians like elvin jones or pharoah sanders up in hollywood w/raymond and being all bourboned-up and digging it years and years ago (ain't either elvin's, pharoa's or raymond's fault - pure watt's the blame, please know that's my sincere belief), seeing the germs and dils before that... somehow I relate w/this cat even w/lots different... shades for here in north carolina and steven in the geordie part of england, like nine or ten I watch regular and listen/learn, good help for me and one way the internet ain't a cesspool for lies and hate.
there's different ways cats can help each other. bassbrother jeremy asks about how I put the wrestling record together: I used the bass and implemented the "if the bass player knows the song, maybe anyone can jump in and do drums, guitar, sing or whatever" theory. then I think why not suggest the same for him w/his bass and do it for his town, make a charlotte wrestling record w/him being the glue to make it happen. he was telling me about cats who've come to hate music cuz of them being in copy bands so maybe this could bring some relief to those, let them get creative by bringing the "clay" for them to throw on the wheel and let the freak flag fly? he says he's into it. "when you teach, you learn" immediately comes to mind... "when you learn, you teach" too, huh? crimony.
we pull anchor at one - time flew right by, crimony. only ninety miles east on the I-40 to greensboro but we're at a quarter tank and I never go below that so eighty minutes later at lexington (not the richard hell kentucky one) I pull us over at an "amoco" where the gas is $2.86/gallon. hodge again does a great job on the windshield, much respect. we get into greensboro at forty minutes later, I get a spot right across from the flat iron which is tonight's gig pad. I never played this town but when the minutemen opened for rem in winston salem on what would be our last tour, we toured the guilford courthouse battlefield... d boon would have us visit all the revolutionary and civil war battlefields that we could. looking back, I'm glad he us do that, it was good thinking cuz damn, we were there to do it so why not, correct? it wasn't like he was glorifying all the violence of it cuz he was big time anti-war... I think it made perfect sense cuz of that that he wanted us to check that stuff out. we check w/soundman brandon and it's a good sounding pad - they've treated the bulkheads w/some nice stuff to tame roller rink bottom of a swimming pool stuff that has challenged us at some pads this tour (and all my fuckin life), I'm into it. I chow the tacos from "los chico's" mike gets us, way happening.
now what I've been waiting for: I get to meet brother scotty irving finally, crimony! love this man. I've made an album w/him (going on two soon) but here he is in the flesh and he's righteous. I get to see him w/spirit of hamlet also cuz they're opening the gig. the other two members tonight are brother benjy and his son abraham who I have met before cuz they came to so cal and I even got to give them bof a tour of my pedro town! they kick off the gig and I'm right up front, digging it much. scotty sure can play, love his spirit and his way, much respect. benjy and abraham too... maybe their first gig together? I get the bass for second to the last song, something I wrote but kind of forgot, damn me! I get to play w/bof scotty and benjy though and dig it much. abraham gets then gets the guitar from his pop and we do stooges' "tv eye" and they bof do great. much respect for abraham, I hug big time bof scotty and benjy, tell them I wanna do spirt of hamlet gigs w/them and also how I can't wait to see what our "round II" turns out to be now that me and scotty have brought w/our bass and drums... benjy did so good on the debut album, so good! I forgot, while they were playing, uncle ray tugged on my sleeve, having arrived from somewhere he had to spend time driving. very kind of him (also later miss hiyori shows me a sack of stuff he gave her for us) but damn, I was just too much into witnessing what was for the first time for me going down, just too much into it - no disrespect intended. bassbrother jeremy and thousand dollar movie again kick up much dust, so righteous to share the stage w/them though I can't be up front, they really bring it. "cinematic" I feel each time though in a different way. "eclipse plumage" is what I discussed w/them earlier today... a connect somehow? prolly more watt tripping on how nature tries every way it can... I will say their stuff gets me bof feeling and thinking. can't wait to see bassbrother jeremy again.
our turn at ten and it's a happening gig... the kindness from the greensboro gig-goers, also mike and hodge hitting good and solid, me along infected w/that though in the debriefing mike says I'm bending a little much in two tunes and going sharp so I'm gonna watch that. was better w/the fuzz box though, turning it on/off is a skill I need to learn... I can do it, it'll take prac but I can do it. wish I had this kind of focus when I was doing my second opera cuz I used boxes w/that but I am fucking slow learner.
the greensboro gig-goers are again most kind when we finish I'm packing up. nobody bogarts, the let me do my stuff while spieling and signing their stuff, take "usies" ("selfie" sounds like "only yourself" to me) - parallel processing, it is very fucking possible. I sign two basses, one's an early 70s gibson eb-3 w/a slotted head slot (this cat knows a lot about me also, was just in thailand during the earthquake) and the other's a wattplower, just like the one I used tonight. always great to see bass cats at my gigs, always. much respect. oh, this one gig-goer shows me a tattoo of raymond's work I used for the cover of "what makes a man start fires?" and I tell him about the fire I started playing w/matches in virginia (norfolk) when I was seven... never played w/matches again after that, never again. I was really baka. raymond's art though is beautiful. the trip was when I saw that, I felt it just had to be the cover of that album - it's a weird minutemen release, weird in the fact it was our only release where I wrote all the music and by that I don't mean the drum fills and the guitar solos but the forms of the tunes and where the spiel went. d boon and georgie equally wrote half the lyrics w/me on the other half. understand I was having knee surgery at the time so I was the one healing while at home so I had the time. in those days we tried to release stuff like every eight or nine months, they were like flyers for gigs to us in a big way then. now I'm glad they're here cuz they're documents but in those days, we thought the most important thing was gigs...
bye byes and thank yous to everyone, especially scotty and jeremy - I tell them one more time I wanna do spirit of hamlet tunes w/them, yes! big hugs. whoa, a collab over the internet's one thing but getting to play in person in real time is another. amen. bof can equal music though so I'm into that also. brother jeremy's invited us to is pad so we make the hike to jamestown - he used to live in greensboro he told me but came out here for the quiet and this pad we end up konking is just that, in the woods and everything. you gotta pass through some strip-mall to get to it but I dig there serenity. I hose off and konk real hard deep in moments of my head hitting the makura ('pillow' in jap). thank you much, brother benjy.
thursday, april 3, 2025 - washington dc
from mike:
Kinda gentro hood
But found my favorite hot sauce
Great bands and fun gig
from hodge:
the bedmakers had lotta fire really interesting female lead singer. watt talked to her after their set to be a guest on his watt from pedro radio show. they were all great, really intense drummer. MOtherfuckers JMB & Co. these folks ran a bit looser ship and the drummer borrowed some of my drum set without asking. turns out once i walked around the area it's near the water and it's full of restaurants and even a ben and jerry's. back to the gig site we had a good set and the sound on stage for me was the best of the tour so far. konk... peter and rachel voskamp.
from watt:
pop just before seven, terrible syrup-in-a-cartridge "supposed coff" but I don't wanna sound like a belly-acher, glad for anything to aid and abet w/the morning pop. the chow's here got too much sugar for me but that's me. I love rapping to brother benjy about everything, especially music but anything cuz he's interesting... his son gives me rilakkuma plush chingadera made of corduroy, fuck yeah. most bitchin, truly... gotta find how to feature it in the boat to bring us luck! what a kind man is abraham, thinking of me like that... in pedro when I was a teenager, levi cords were THE fancy pants to wear instead of levis that were denim. yeah, trippy times - I can't remember when I last wore cords but have never stopped wearing the denim 501 kind. I bring just two pair for tour, that's it.
pull anchor at nine w/the weather gray but dry. east on I-40, then north on I-85 around the medical triangle... over the state line into virginia (transit only, no gig here this time) at eleven and cuz of my "two hour rule" I've adopted for sure w/this tour, I pull us over at the first offramp w/gas, in bracey where mike gasses the boat (didn't need much but I wanna stick w/that "rule" for other reasons) for $2.80/gallon and I'm glad miss hiyori brings me coff from a "fuckin gonuts" to help wash out the mazui ('bad tasting' in jap) feel in my mouf from that syrup shit that made me feel like someone pissed a bladder full of perfume in it. speaking "two" rules... mike uses his leash to investigate this moufful of bullshit called the two-color rule where a black man in this country couldn't tap dance solo, crimony. at petersburg we jump on I-95 but soon some side roads cuz of plug 'til north of richmond, getting fuel near cool water farm at a "mr fuel" for $2.90/gallon, a salad from miss hiyori that'll wait for dc for me, let's try to wade through this plug! that really happens in the capitol, we pass the pentagon... there's the washington monument!
tonight's gig is in a part of d.c. I've never played before, just after the bridge over the potomac on I-395 and then over another bridge, right by the water is the gig pad, pearl street warehouse and I get us there at a quarter after three. whew, that last hour was a buttload of plug but we made it. we sound w/soundman graham and he's very cool people, everyone this tour's been a great fourth man to have aid and abet w/us for these gigs, I feel most grateful for that. mike, bomis and steve of bomis prendin get us some chow from a nearby pad called "surf city tacos" and they tell me cuz that can form the acronym "sst" - get it? the label most the minutemen stuff came out on! I'm gonna get to meet them later cuz they said were coming to the gig, fuckin right on cuz I play their stuff on my show all the time. someone else I've played all their stuff I could find is mike and andy of mold omen who come from their baltimore town to record live w/me after soundcheck. I brought a little focusrite 4i4 interface and a joyo amp to monitor us (motown "hitsville" style - no headphones) so mike on guitar, andy on trombone and myself on bass can record on three discrete channels they can edit and mix later. I use reaper and we go for fortyeight straight minutes, I ask them to get forty worth cuz twenty minutes as a side for 33 1/3 rpm vinyl is about the limit before bass end gets hurt. we've got two release as mow but this is the first time bof I've met them in person and got to play w/them live in the moment. I'm a little scared but am way into it. like hodge once told me when we were making my first opera, "being a little bit afraid is like being a little bit excited" which I will never forget, thanks much, hodge, truly. I put the three tracks on a usb stick and give it to mike. whoa, we did it. technology ain't all bad if you use it bring connects and creativity in a healthy trip I think.
soon after the first live mow session ever is done, tonight's first act, bed maker goes on, who really bring it. crimony, much much heart. everyone brings w/these cats. so do the next band, motherfucker jmb& co who's got virginia drummerman jim from alter natives, whoa! I have a big spiel w/bed maker singer amanda about stuff, very interesting lady - turns out she's the sister of my old friend ian - crimony, if it ain't a small world, huh? me and ian have a big spiel also but it's mostly about w/putting the plug in the jug, he's a big inspiration to me in a trippy way - never has told me what to do, just is the way he is and the last 826 days, I want some of that and keep going w/it here on out. we finish spieling on it right up to mike opening the dressing room hatch and giving the go. I thank ian much, tonight the gig's for him... man, he's been to so many of my different trips w/different cats - oh, one thing I learned from him tonight was bad brains actually started w/darryl, crimony - the bassman, yes! gary then came who was a bassman first! crimony! then hr and his brother earl who first just did bongos, whoa! they all getting turned on to the movement by a cat named sid. I shared the stage w/this band a few times and they always got me lit, always... love these cats. always were very kind to me too. ok, great knowledge from ian besides the healthy talk about being more healthy, this gig's for him.
before note one, big spirit from the dc gig-goers. whoa. six hours to get here and it means nothing cuz of the lift I get from them, also mike and hodge who really bring - maybe mike and andy earlier w/the fortyeight minute "big tune" maybe so... I truly believe whenever you play, you invest in the next time. the two openers were really inspiring also. whoa, I keep it together enough to lots of time just start cracking up cuz of being amazed of it all, you know? this week has had so emotional stuff for me, that's what tour's can bring - it ain't just sleepwalking to get by cuz for me life seems to be in huge teach mode on me just by bringing what it is in my life and asking in so many different ways to pay attention. the first _mssv_ gig ever in dc, alright, I feel it was a real good one.
my stuff's close enough so I can pack from the chair I'm in, I dig that. I get to meet the bomis prendin cats that came to see the gig, they're most kind to me and we have a great rap. "where do you put the coma?" I suggest as a working title for anything from them after explaining what I think is a key to figuring out a big "secret" starting w/the first episode (specifically the intro spiel) "arrival" from "the prisoner" tv series (watt's favorite ever!)... drummerman brendan says hi and we spiel about making an album starting this summer, let me tell you how I cannot wait. he mentioned this to me a little while ago but now we spiel about concrete steps to make it happen. I more and more wanna work w/drummers, learn and take direction form them. for too long the music trip that's been on me has relegated these kind musicians to places I don't believe they should be "condemned" to (maybe too strong? I think not), can't wait to learn by doing w/brendan! the internet can help w/happening stuff, I shit thee not! some norfolk (virginia) cats rap w/me... man, if I don't feel a kind of resonance w/the w/out thinking about it - I gotta do another norfolk gig (I think the last one was at "the boathouse" w/sonic youth in 1995? crimony!)... graham's here, morgan too - yes! lots of kindness from all these dc gig-goers, truly. strider's here! we go way back... he hads me two sacks of coff, very kind, very kind and beautiful strider!
bed maker singerlady amanda and her husband help load the boat, yes! I then wheel us to takoma park in nearby maryland via mike's happening directs which are even more happening if you know about the state-named streets and the angles involved vs the the letter-named and numbered-named "grid oriented" streets. makes for a good overhead view though, thank you mr l'efant! we get to pete's pad (remember me spieling w/his brother john before the san antonio gig?) and everything is most calm, we drop anchor for the night. I hose off and then have a big spiel w/pete about health stuff, he's interested so it ain't a total foist. I gotta bring the boat in for maintenance at the crack so this makes me relent and I konk in moments soon as mouf is zipped. thank you for the big love, pete - can't wait for our proj w/your brother john: ligan.
friday, april 4, 2025 - philadelphia, pa
from mike:
Wake in Fahey's hood
Good feeling and sounding room
Mariachi on
from hodge:
we woke up at peter and rachel voskamp's house. rachel was up with miss hiyori having coffee in the dining room. i joined them good coffee, watt had left the house early to have the boat oil changed and the tires rotated. peter came back from dropping the daughter off at school. pretty soon he started breakfast egg and salmon burritos. really nice chow. we got an early start on traffic got into philadelphia pretty early avoiding the heavy traffic. i went walking and found a coffee shop double espresso. got into the club early hiyori and baggetta had already loaded in the gear. i opened up my 18" camco bass drum basically took off the resonating head. i needed to install some dampening so it would mic up better too resonant. taped some long rectangles of paper towels using gaffers tape. to both the batter and reso heads. got er done and put the reso head back on tuned her up and we are back in business. we were the only band on the bill. easy breezy. boh and victor were the soundmen and helped us load out as well. really cool crowd. soundmen: Boh & Victor. got to meet howard our promotion person for mike baggetta and mssv. really cool person!!!! finally got to put a face to the name phone and email so far only. then were off to tim and allison cook's home to konk and hang out. we have been there a few times really cool folk always lots of healthy food after show and in the morning. tim really knows his way around the kitchen!!! plus he had smoked a pork shoulder amazing.
from watt:
pop at six, the boat's got 4,982 miles since the tour started and these modern transit-150s can go two thousand more miles than the econolines (ford stopped making them in 2014) between maintenance jobs. mike found "academy ford" in nearby laurel and it takes me a half hour to get there. I'm first but of course some last minute bumrusher barges in front cuz of course he's more manly but there's two cats working the desk and I get one named alvin who's prolly the best cat I've ever had at a ford dealership, he's the best and very kind to me... later, while I'm chimping in the customer area, as far as I can be from the urusai ('noisy' in jap) tv, he brings me a bottle of water and actually my boat is the first one done... the fastest I've ever had this done. I thank him much and then in the boat, ready to bail, he comes up to the hatch and asks if he can find me and my music (I told him I did bass) on the internet and I told him yes. much respect for brother alvin, very cool people. man, it is the best running into very cool people, makes life fuckin happening. tonight my gig in phily is for brother alvin.
I get back to peter's pad and everyone's ready to go, I don't even get out the boat but thank peter for his kindness w/the window down. his wife rachel gives me celery stalks wrapped in a cloth, very kind. just after nine and a half we pull anchor, bye bye pete and rachel... 'til next time! the weather is gray but it's dry. north through maryland and just past bal'mor (home of andy and mike, we also that francis scott key bridge broken from getting smacked by a can boat), at a "royal farms" by white marsh (I don't name these places), we get bof the boat fueled for $3.30/gallon and also mike does a spiel there and then we get back on the road - you can't have people decide not to go to your gigs if they don't know about them in the first place, correct? I'm into howard setting up this spiel stuff for mike.
back on the road, we pass into delaware (only transit state this tour but also a konk one - later tonight at timmy's in newark) twenty of noon... twenty minutes we're over the state line into pennsylvania, gray skies but dry... we pass the phily naval shipyard w/navy mothballed boats... my pop used to say "toot toot philadelpia" when it was adios for something, trippy...
I get us into the south part of downtown phily where tonight's gig pad is... been playing here since it was "the boot and saddle" (the sign still says that), solar myth twenty of one, yes! we blow to check out the parking scene and bring it about... a few blocks away, I work my way closer w/the boat to the gig pad as parking spaces open up... so fucking happening arriving early to make this more very fucking possible, absolute! I get the closest one we can eventually and drop anchor. this pad's got a china chow pad named "mui chung" next door and it not being canton, it has no chow mein but it does have yat gaw mein so I get that and a quart of won ton soup and bring it back to the boat. love it! I chow and chimp diary... actually big chow day for watt cuz mike brings me tacos carnitas from nearby mexican chow pad we saw when bringing the boat around. I get many photos ready for diary but need to code them in... they can wait however cuz the chimping of text is much more "memory intensive" and will quickly get lost in my head if I don't get them chimped so that's why the diaries have been hurting in the photo department for readers... I will get to them though, soon as possible.
we check w/soundman beau and have some great raps w/him also, he gets us a bunch of "topo chico" bottles for the little room on the stage's side... no opening act tonight and eight is go-time so loving bof those things much. dig sharing the stage w/other cats but sometimes it's good to have the minimal thing if I don't get a chance to konk in the boat like tonight.
we hit right at eight (thank you soundman beau!) and I'm feeling some sun ra stuff... maybe cuz I got hipped to the fact marshall allen plays on this same stage regularly earlier today, crimony. that means much to me, being a less-younger bassman and witnessing that cat keepin on keepin on instills incredible amount of inspiration in me, truly. I enjoy the set, enjoy the phily gig-goers, feel good and charged up by the china and mexican chow even though it was a bunch (don't do that all the time) and I thought for sure I might be weighed down but the happening spirt of the whole trip lifted me so... one reason I'm a true believer in music, just think it's a fucking most happening thing, truly. so much good stuff in it for me - to share w/cats bof on and off stage, a fuckin mentality of possibilities to create/learn/experience, crimony.
kurt from the nip drivers (this is a band d boon wanted out on our new alliance records label, I can remember 'pert-near exactly the time he told me, see his face w/the words coming out his mouf - ain't that a trip?! of course I wanted to make happen anything d boon wanted to make happen) comes up to the front of the stage and says he moved here and is doing bass now instead of guitar so we have a long rap about that (well maybe more of a watt soliloquy), yeah, in front of everyone but I get carried away w/bass, you know? I just do. I relate w/the other music stuff though too, especially drums and as composition trip also. good to see kurt again, been a long time. howard comes on stage, I dedicated the richard hell song tonight to him and I give him a soliloquy on my health stuff, about making it better w/better chow (cooking most of it myself) and putting a plug in the jug w/the alcohol... again, in front of everyone. love howard much. all the gig-goers who rap w/me are most kind, I am way grateful... one thing though: there are some people who wanna tell you where and how to sign stuff, what's that about? kind of controlling... I'm happy to sign stuff but let me use my writing device and how I wish to wield it please. I hope that ain't too much to ask for and sincerely I ain't trying to be rude, just seems a little pushy on me. I wanna give back for the support but maybe not so much bend over, capito?
boat loaded, we pull anchor and I can't wait to play phily again, truly. gig debriefing time... ok, I blew clams, especially w/a new move mike wanted me to take w/the "ok to change chorus" and so we discuss mariachi bass figures, how those cats get creative loco, especially w/tuba - why not bring it to thudstaff? yep. good spiel all the way to timmy's pad in newark (the delaware one, not the jersey one) which is like fortyfive minutes south but worth it. you pass through wilmington to get to it which is the namesake of the town that started the l.a. harbor (cuz it was the hometown of phineas banning) besides being the home town of joe baiza so of course I'm thinking of him when I see the sign. timmy and alison are most kind and clear a space in their living room for the air mattress while I hose off. I wish I could rap w/them but I am tuckered - that don't mean I'm most grateful to them, timmy's been coming to my gigs and supporting me for years, truly a righteous dude. much respect to him. I konk quick feeling safe.
saturday, april 5, 2025 - kingston, ny
from mike:
Bye Tim and Ali
Fun side trip to museum!
Quite tired, i play
from hodge:
we woke up at tim and allison cook's house. tim and allison really put out some amazing food for us!!!! lots of bacon and sausage blackberries strawberries. lots of strong coffee. tim has a real touch with scrambled eggs.the main technique is to cook them slowly. tim and i talked a lot about the value of having a simple recording system at home. you can be privately being playing anything you like quiet or loud and with it only in the headphones you don't disturb anyone. if volume is an issue or your feeling shy and don't want anyone to hear there you go. it's all in your head so to speak. tonight is tubby's in kingston ny near woodstock. small soulful venue with a cool sound person will. i missed the opening bands we did our set got great response from the hometown folks and before we knew it we were off to woodstock for a nights rest at matt gorney's house. so much history there in the woodstock area. jazz rock n roll etc etc... when i was working with mavis staples we spent time with levon helms. rehearsing and recording at his amazing place. very near matt's place. dylan, sonny rollins the list goes on and on.
from watt:
pop at seven... I think timmy does the same cuz soon he comes w/coff he just made, most kind of him! I can smell him cooking up chow w/alison as I chimp diary. he fries me three eggs over medium along w/bacon, it's good, he cooked it up good - thank you so much!
it's gray and threatening rain as we pull anchor at ten, timmy out in the street to make sure my back-out is safe. bye bye to him and alison, big love to bof... by the time we're on the road whence we came, the rain starts that won't quit the rest of the day. we reach the new jersey turnpike (new jersey's another "transit state" this tour w/out a gig, so sorry) in a half hour and at noon I pull us over to have gas put in the boat by the attendant (that's the law here, last state to do so) for... the rain blurred my photo so I can't tell you the price, sorry! in fortyfive minutes we get to the garden state parkway and cross the state line into new york eleven after one... an hour later I get us to kingston, where we drop off hodge at this konk pad owned by tonight's gig pad (a block away), tubby's (hodge says he needs the rest cuz he didn't have too good of a konk last night) and the head for the hudson river maritime museum on the recommend from karen schoemer who's gonna come to the gig tonight...
there's a maritime museum in my pedro town (link here) so I'm interested and it reminds me of the days when d boon wanted to visit as much interesting stuff as possible on tour, it's about being aware of opportunities, correct? of course these two maritime museums have much in common, humans near water but there's huge differences too... this hudson river was real fundamental to the early u.s. and actually all kinds of stuff regarding steam power for boats cuz of what robert fulton brought w/his steamboat (didn't even have a name cuz it was the only one at the time!). the other thing is the hudson river, whoa what a river. another thing I trip on is the ice industry that developed here... ice was big time important before the refrigeration we take for granted now via modern power. I had an apartment in the 80s that had an icebox cuz it came from the older days and there's an old "union ice" building... I wonder if it's still there? anyway, there's saws and tongs and all kinds of stuff for that industry, crimony if it ain't a trip. same w/the steam stuff... it's a steam motor that's on the boat in "the sand pebbles" by richard mckenna, a book very dear to me. we have a good time at this place, I get a toy version of a boatswain's pipe at the end for my llaves chain.
we get over to tubby's just after three and a half and load-in. we check w/soundman will and then I rap w/the guitarman mark shue of the band before us tonight, the beech creeps... mark's also the bassman for guided by voices who I dig much and can't wait to experience this band of his. pierre de gaillande is gonna open up and part of his act is gonna be three minutemen tunes w/me replacing his bassist for those. everyone here making music tonight is very friend and I love the spirit of all this, it reminds me of the feel of the old days w/everyone really into getting to be part of a gig, everyone coming together. karen comes and we rap... I've known her now for thirty years, half her life! crimony. that is a trip if you think of it but in a way, a life is made of many days, many experiences and not just long stretches of time. counting years is different than really evaluating moments honestly, correct? life ain't a scoreboard! it's more of stuff past bringing you to the now where you're at to realize (or not) that stuff I think more than reducing it down to a more reductive kind of mathematical sum. mike brings me tacos from across the street and I dig them. stephen bluhm arrives and it's great to meet him in person, I had him on my show. a couple of years ago, yet another from howard, much respect!
pierre's band's going on a quarter after eight so I'm afraid of konking and being late for my turn w/them... I still kind of fuck that up cuz I get to spieling w/the beech creeps drummerman brian who's a really interesting cat, I get lost in our spiel and unaware it's show time - I feel like an idiot but there's televisions at this pad so I realize this clam I'm blowing and get over to the stage to borrow their bass and do three tunes I wrote for the minutemen: "bob dylan wrote propaganda songs," "beacon sighted through fog" and "the glory of man" which I think I clammed up so (especially the second one) but it was good to be w/these guys doing it.
beech creeps are next and really bring it. the bassman's on a baritone guitar, whoa... drummerman trips me out playing traditional grip it this wild way that gets me lit and mark's happening on guitar like he is on bass, whoa - this trio is priming the next trio (us) really nice. sister mimi's here... sister lucy couldn't make it but she'll get the news about my health - sister mimi has helped her health also in ways I've done likewise. I mean we all have own our ways but we're also looking for common healthier outcomes, correct? great uplift spiel from sister mimi for brother watt, I'm most grateful.
I wanna do good for this gig, I wanna do good for all my gigs. sometimes the trick is just to stay out of the way of yourself to make it happen, you know what I'm saying. man, I can get nervous. these days being more healthy helps lots of time but I still get nervous. the kingston gig-goers help. you would think w/all the gigs under my belt, I wouldn't be susceptible to getting nervous but... I focus on mike and hodge to help do good for them and in that way, I can do good for the gig-goers, correct? there are times when I start laughing to my self while we're playing - not laughing at us but at myself and the ridiculousness I sometimes stumble into... I think experience has given me a kind of "keel" to keep from turning turtle though - thank heaven for small mercies!
when mike has me address the crowd, I tell them the song I'm covering is from new york resident since 1970 richar hell, yes! we end the gig and I sigh... and laugh out loud some. whew. karen tells me "I like the way the bass hits me right here" and points at her chest. I always thought you feel bass more than hear it, that's one of things I really like about it. d boon would talk about that being different than w/a guitar. much kindness, watt's most grateful, truly. I get the boat and bring it closer cuz damn, the rain never stopped, not since leaving timmy's town in delaware.
the most kind matt who stayed w/after the gig in orlando has aboard this new pad he's got now in woodstock - it's my first time in woodstock and takes a little bit to get there cuz... it's in the woods! good shower to hose down in, I thought I'd be freezing but am not. I konk w/my body tingling and my head lit but I'm aware that for only a very short time cuz konk comes 'pert-near real quick. crimony.
sunday, april 6, 2025 - new york city, ny
from mike:
Time waits for no man
Watt finds great spots for the boat
Good gig - thanks ShellShag!
from hodge:
we got to new york city and the mercury lounge at 2pm double parked and got the gear and the merch out of the van. watt went off to find parking no minor miracle. got into the club and the place was filled with chinese students from nyu several bands worth. we found out they were participating in a battle of the bands. and the audience was going to be the judges. mostly all students themselves from nyu. when they were done sound checking we got our turn. watt stayed in the boat so we checked his gear. opening this evening was our pals and konk donors. they are a husband and wife team. lots of charisma very musical. shell on guitar and vocals and jen on drums and vocals. jen plays a kit like mo tucker from the velvet underground played. standing no foot pedals and no cymbals. very cool sound. tribal earthy leaves lots of room for the guitar and vocals. they really have a special style of show all their own. our set went off pretty well the folks clapped for an extra long time.
from watt:
pop just after seven... I have little baka office at casa de samui (mix of espano and nihon-go) and get caught up w/email stuff and diary chimping. it's in the high forties fahrenheit and wet but no more storm... wish I could see more of woodstock, wish I could I get the chow most kind matt fixed up for us but like mike baggetta says...
we pull anchor at ten and a half travel back whence we came yesterday, me and mike analyze how guard rails are ornamented w/orange traffic cones once "evolved" by traffic experiences... we cross back into new jersey quarter of noon and in a few minutes I pull us into a "pilot" (fuckin 'pert-near have to throw out the anchor and pop the chute, I shit thee not... not well-designed entry point!) and fuel the boat up for $2.88/gallon. skies are gray but no rain. mike reads up on the chains we put up against england on the hudson during our revolution, trips him out (me too)... twelve and a half where at the george washington bridge for our hudson crossing into new york city... trippy, our third day in a row w/out music for the drive, sometimes that happens...
we get across manhattan island and take the fdr south to the lower east side where we're playing. new york city has a congestion fee now for peak hours which limits the amount of cars but does not limit pendejos driving like, well, pendejos so it's kind of like playing dodge ball w/selfish fucks. blessed to make it to tonight's gig pad just after one, the mercury lounge on houston (pronounced not like the texas town), I got the flashers on for the unload quick onto the sidewalk and damn if I ain't lucky to find parking a block and a half away across the street near firs street and first avenue. crimony. last night I got a recommend from some cat who said I should instead of "katz's" I should go to a pad called the "cafe himalay" and I tell him the lines at "katz's" are just too much for me even though I am crazy for their chopped liver sandwiches w/onion and mustard... we]ll dam it this parking spot I got on first street just south of first ave this very fuckin chow pad he was talking about! crimony. I get to go some"shogok khatsa" which is a salad of cold potatoes, peas and some kind of chili sauce that is big time bitchin, I love it. mike and hodge soundcheck w/out me, like last time we were here. I stay in the boat and after the check, mike brings me happening tacos from "essex taqueria" near the gig pad. the openers for us for are again like last time, shellshag who are also letting us konk w/them, very kind.
he last bunch of times I've been here, the merc's had two shows a night and if that's the case I always go for the earlier one and am so glad mike did the same (remember, he booked this whole tour himself, he's not just the guitar player and songwriter!) so we're on at six and a half but mike's got us to go even fifteen minutes earlier, fuck yeah. I also find a closer parking spot, houston and first street - you can see the boat from the merc if look for it at ten o'clock from hatch, yatta!
mike gets me and we bring right on time, there is not one peep of yammering from the gig-goers here in new york city tonight, a really gig for us, I think it's one way up there so far for us, great communication w/all three of us mixed w/the respect of those witnessing it - actually they're a part of it in my thinking. thank you kindly and sincerely.
soundlady alicia since I wasn't part of soundcheck, thanking for making our band a quartet w/her work, so many gig-goers said they dug the sound. gran respeto to her, truly. not much time for spiel w/cats like usual cuz there's a battle of the bands next w/chinese students from nyc, the pad boss leo gently enlightens everyone w/getting the fuck out of dodge please. I did get to rap w/fellow bassist felice rosser and this means much to me, I respect her so much. wow. I go get the boat and bring her about for the crazy load, like when we arrived this afternoon and once we got that, it's a crazier (cuz of the fucking pendejo drivers even on a sunday) go back up the fdr and g w bridge to new jersey and the small town of clifton, takes about forty minutes... my watch says 9:06 pm - can you fuckin believe it? yes! I am so into it.
for the first time on this tour I get to soak, there's even epsom salts for the tub, most kind of shel and jen, truly. my sore body really has a happening time for like half a fuckin hour! also amazing it getting konk just after ten, love it, yatta!
monday, april 7, 2025 - east providence, ri
from mike:
Rain, getting colder
Oh! MidFi! Tommy, such gifts!
Stage probs, more teamwork…
from hodge:
woke up today at jen and shell's house. great vibes stayed with them several times. yesterday at the mercury lounge we worked on jen's drums a bit getting the muting dialed in to preserve the low end sound of her tom toms. this morning we took a serious look at her snare drum. turns out it's a chad smith (chili peppers drummer) tama's version of ludwig's black beauty. basically a heavy brass snare drum. tuning drums is kind of a pain in the ass. it's not exact like a guitar. it's trail and error. even if you know what you are doing. we got it balanced out and it was really high pitched. so we brought it down in pitch to blend with her toms. sounded pretty darn good. i have been tuning drums for a long time. i figured when i played with mavis staples we mostly played backline ( rented drums) i probably tuned a 1,000. drum sets. if we toured with bob dylan or bonnie raitt we would the travel in a bus and bring our own gear, amps and drums. 11:oo am rolled around and we drove away. at the gig the opening band was really good!!! trio all fine players female bassist her husband on drums and another female on guitar and theremin. really interesting sound. to me orchestral guitar and theremin made a real singing sound. loved it!!!!
from watt:
pop at six. coff is only from those cartridge-type syrup bullshit dispenser kind so I don't have to tell you any more about what it took not to puke it back up, somehow I kept it down... this does not reflect on shell and jen though cuz are most kind, that's what's important... forgot to mention the one spiel I had w/shell before that konk, I was telling him what scotty-san (rock action) told me how ig got this name pop at the end of his name (notice how he's "iggy stooges" on the first album?)... he said there was an usual cat in ann arbor they all knew named joe pop that one time ran his head into a wall and caused some kind of nerve damage that made his eyebrows fall out. he told me the stooges (maybe they were called the "psychedelic stooges" still?) did a gig where ig shaved off his eyebrows and then put glitter all over the top of his head. at the gig, ig got all sweaty and the glitter went into eyes cuz there were no eyebrows to protect them and he got all blind. scotty told me that's when he called "iggy pop" which was after this guy "joe pop" - ain't that a trip? I sure miss scotty-san, love ig - he's gonna be seventyeight in a few weeks, a huge inspiration to me. this morning shell makes some steel-cut oatmeal for me, very kind of him... he trips on my chowing it w/hashi.
it's rainy out when we pull anchor at eleven, big bye byes for shell and jen but they see they'll be in so cal for the tour's last gig in the frogtown part of sliver lake so we'll see them then, yatta! I get us north on the garden state parkway to connect w/the tappan zee bridge over the hudson in new york - a favorite way of mind for avoiding the manhattan/long island stau/plug. of course it being rainy and cold (boat says outside it's 38º f!) means people don't have to worry about driving any safer, correct? crimony. so we swerve to avoid - only metaphorically (sure!)... forgot - just before the bridge we do a piss stop and miss hiyori gets me a nathan dog w/mustard, in new york for transit... on to I-95 and into connecticut (no gig transit state this tour) at noon and I remember j mascis + the fog drummerman george berz from mass town westfield and all his jokes about there and then thinking about never hearing so many belgium jokes 'til I went to the netherlands... humans. I hope george is ok these days, haven't hear from in a while. I feel a special connect w/drummers... j was a drummerman first, yep.
we listen to music this trip, part of it is jack kerouac reading from his "on the road" book. there is so much traff and w/all the construction also, I am unaware when we cross the state line into rhode island but know when we're in providence cuz of that big blue bug on this building...
but actually for the first time I'm playing across the river in east providence - "across the river" means go over a bridge that's only half there now cuz it's beat and needs to be redone, like lots of the u.s. a quarter of four I get us to myrtle which is tonight's gig pad and the gig boss tommy says it's clean. can't do better than that and it's monday too. happening. we check w/soundman justin, happening cat. I meet the openers, locals called sapling that have on one of their albums but he's not gonna be here tonight, he will in may though, along w/peter, the drummer in his old band who now does guitar and lives here (roger's lives in vermont). it's all about people, correct? yep. the sapling basslady rocks a wattplower, whoa!
I try to konk in the boat but even w/the three blankies, it's too cold for me. I come in and it's showtime, what timing? sapling brings it and they're kicking up much dust! great inspiration. my old friends mark and joe de from warren are supposed to be here but no sign... I check the internet for email - what's this, fuck... we've lost clem burke, crimony. it hits me hard. whoa... guess I expect stuff like this... cancer, fuck... oh man... email from make said he'd be here but no joe de... crimony.
our turn to play at eight and though I start ok, it starts to sink in about clem... in the tune "another" I lose the one, fuck... I haven't done this all tour. I even ask to have someone in the band look at me. crimony, damn me. I get it together but the lose some other one stuff in "help" and "see through you" - the former only once and get back on, the latter I actually just lose the notes w/on getting screwed up... well, I tried to hook up the fuzz box tommy gave me - some friend of his named doug makes "myrtle pedals" (by the way, "myrtle" is the name of the pad boss tommy's great grandmother in law) but I'm not together and clam that up. crimony, I'm kind of shook up. it's a tough gig for me but there's parts I did good and always tried to keep my spirit up.
I pack up and move my own stuff to the boat, justin helps by putting the amp in speakerbox in... I then talk much w/gig-goers... a lot got bumrushed inside and didn't getting to talk w/me which I feel bad about - happened in manhattan too, I always gig-goers to know they're much appreciated by me, truly they are. I guess being very nervous about that and the clams I blew in the gig make me very self-conscious and I discuss stuff like a trivia-show host, asking questions, the spiel de-evolving into the routing of the riest this tour's gigs, crimony! kind of baka but they are most kind and patient w/me... people got work in the morning, watt! damn me.
all packed and stowed w/get mark in the boat w/us and head for his buddy kyle's pad in warren (kyle ran for us when some klowns were trying to fould up local stuff w/klown shit - much respect to him!), they grew up and still live on the same block together there. even w/mark thre and mike in the backseat, I ask for a debriefing cuz I feel lousy about those clams I blew and wanna get right w/mike and hodge. I need focus too cuz I'm still tripped out about us losing brother clem. crimony. so glad for mark giving me directions cuz that helps too though I'm 'pert-near make some stupid moves, damn me. I'm too not together to hose even and soon am in the nightwear and somehow konk like that, prolly cuz I'm so tuckered. kyle's pad has a really protective feel - ain't that trippy to relate? it is, him and mark real good people. joe de? they're gonna tell me about joe de tomorrow...!
tuesday, april 8, 2025 - keene, nh
from mike:
First snow of the tour
Peak New England look and feel
Great gig, few notes, cold
from hodge:
this club had a cool band pad right around the corner from the venue. and they put us up in a hotel for the night. i got a load of laundry done on the 3rd floor laundry room. very cool!!
from watt:
pop just before seven, then hose off cuz it was just too cold for me and I must protect my health. I have not been sweating at gigs, even w/this outfit for this tour... I think it's cuz of sitting maybe and not having to use my voice as much. of course I would rather konk clean after being hosed down but I gotta always think of my health. I chimp diary after while kyle cooks up portuguese-style slices of chorizo which is way diff from what I'm used to w/the mexican kind which is always loose and never a sausage like pepperoni w/flour tortillas (cold but it ain't cuz they weren't grilled first, it's cuz they were sitting) so none of that doughy-amateur-hour shite. mark comes over and plays me a video from joe de in the hosp... now I know why he missed last night's gig: he accidentally lit himself on fire, crimony. somehow a can of gas he was carrying got pressurized and fumed up and whoops, there it is: him 'pert-near burned to death. luckily (like me in 1987 when my head caught fire), he hollered so he didn't inhale any fumes that would've deadly cuz of lung burns are 'pert-near always fatal - remember to holler and not breathe in if you catch fire. this video of him explaining all bandaged up from the hosp is very hard for me to watch cuz I love joe de much, I 'pert-near gotta avert my eyes but fortunately he's right to the point and there's no yammering involved, every word has the weight of a ton I feel most sincerely. thank you joe de and thank god you survived this hell-blow. crimony.
I then post on fakelook about tonight's first ever mssv new hampshire gig and read about drummerlady tobi vail on us losing brother clem so I write her back there (something I don't usually do cuz of it being such a jive whatever clown car ride):
"ms tobi, mickey has this charity gig for his brother joey and in 2016 he had clem burke w/me for drums and bass... clem's from new jersey but at this time he lived in studio city, 'pert-near forty miles of my pedro town and drove to prac w/me at my prac pad like eight or nine times and we studied that first ramones album and learned every part of it for this gig at what used to be _the ritz_ in new york city for the forty anniversary of it, we got it down and I love the way this cat had no front, was all about music and at the same time had had all these stories and treated me so kind, like I knew him forever - he was beautiful. yes, he could really play but also could really play w/you, share that experience a hundred percent and make it a team go, man, I was so into him and his way, his person! beautiful beautiful cat, I got such big respect for brother clem, let me tell you. love that man. what an inspiration, truly. on bass, watt"
we pull anchor at eleven. sunny but cold (my pedro town dosn't work that way!), not too long and we're in massachusetts - bye bye rhode island - and heading northwest on state road 146... quarter after noon I pull us of at a "sunoco" (gas up for $3.00/gallon) eight miles from wocester (pronounced "whister," where I learned incredible phrase "wicked pisser" meaning incredible good time) and just past purgatory chasm. boat's thermometer says 38º f but this coat my sister melinda sewed for me keeps it ok for watt, collar around my neck from the shirt she didn't sew but did pick out aids and abets. a return no tunes this drive... the last town in massachusetts (only a transit state this tour) is winchendon and mike laughs at how "new england" this whole trip through new england has been. he's from springfield, ma so he should know, correct. we cross into new hampshire at two and a half, thermometer now saying 32º f (freezing) for outside by the sun is out! crimony. keene is near the border so we get to the gig pad there a half hour later, it's called nova arts and I get out the boat after a bit and enter w/some "urgency" (tom watson would prolly call it the "'not now, man' look") and I meet the gig boss eric but I gotta blow it pretty bad (georgie would say "the mule's kickin at barn door") so after letting him know, I deal w/that and what, no flush? the horror. I lift the tank top and find the chain from the flush handle to the most important part of the mechanism has snapped and go for the manual method - can't repair so I let the counter lady know. this nothing to the weird stuff mike had to deal w/at the 'tel - a big reason I don't like using 'tels for period or anything in my fucking life. mike comes back w/tacos that are good even if a little guero (only one tortilla and harina which means the filling being wet comes through) but they got real pork and some mexican stuff. we check w/soundlady mia, very cool people and prac where I blew clams last night, one actually evolves into something mike likes so we keep. crimony.
we meet the openers landowner from holyoke in mass, also cool people. love happening people in this racket, love them. I talk w/their bassman josh about learning new ways of improvising and how playing w/chris corsano and joe baiza on that tour last fall has really helped me w/that, really has. gig boss eric takes me to the back room to chimp diary... it's way too cold to try and konk in the boat, I gotta protect my health. I hear the landowner's set from here and dig it much, very nervous but that's ok... inspiring for me... I gotta rally tonight after last night's clams I blew... owe it to mike and hodge, owe it to the gig-goers.
gig boss eric takes me to a back room cuz it's too cold again to be in the boat - my health, must protect the health and this ain't pedro. it is neat here though, wish I could see more of it. anyway, hodge joins me in this back room place and we bof chimp diary - yes, he says he's catching up. yatta. I tell you, if I didn't do it every day, for sure I would be spacin hard while trying to remember. we can hear the openers landowner and they're quite good, can really play fast also which is part of their stuff, not just flexing. they have an interesting way of music for me.
our turn at eight and a half when they're done and everything's on time. in fact for watt too, I rally from last night - I'm thinking brother clem but this time's it's like an inspiring light drawing my upward while tethering me w/focus on bringing this mssv music w/mike and hodge. really good gig for me on my end but I think also for the band... also for the gig-goers who really are kind - the attention they brought for "boat song" - crimony! well, maybe some of that got used up by the time I was doing the richard hell tune cuz like last night, yammerers gotta yammer in the part I get quiet in the chorus (my version of his tune is an interpretation, correct?), I cut it short by two rerfrains - a little pissed but only for the moment cuz of that selfish fuck who couldn't hold back... I remember myself all bourboned-up and yammering to raymond at a residents' gig once and some other gig-goer telling me to shut the fuck up - I totally realized what a fucking baka I was acting like so maybe even after all the years I'm getting some karma... you know, I feel karma's like a bank account: you're either making deposits or withdrawals. crimony.
I get to put everything away and even get off the stage w/out a bumrush, whoa! I get to use my speakerbox w/its wheels as a walker, whoa again! gig boss eric does volunteer to take direction w/the stowing of that, the amp purse and my bajo... some directs have to be repeated but not much, he does good! many thanks to him. roger miller's here, love this man - wow, what a surprise. we spiel some w/me in the wheel seat cuz of the cold. we talk about a proj, man, that would be something - I remember meeting roger at the first gig minutemen did in boston... it was at the channel in southie and it was huskers and us, I was very excited he came and rapped w/us, beautiful man and still an inspiration to me today. I ask him to pick his favorite drummerman and let's let him go first w/this proj - I'm way into that these days! can't wait, "moonlight on vermont" (he lives in brattleboro these days and says there's a happening studio near him on the side of a mountain). so glad he was here and I played good - thank you brother clem!
wednesday, april 9, 2025 - winooski, vt
from mike:
Good, long, quiet sleep
Worst tacos of the tour, damn
Played two games of pool
from hodge:
about 30 steps away from the hotel was an organic market good coffee salad bar and fruit and nuts good timing for stocking up.
tonight's venue is "the monkey house" in winooski, vermont we are parked right out front waiting for the sound person to arrive and we get the go ahead to set up.
i did a phone interview with dustin from: KMSU-FM show called "the five count" always interested in talking about music and music from my past & present that people have interesting questions about.
the opening band "swale" were really good lotta dynamics great drummer soulful husband and wife, she played guitar and keys has a really mournful voice, he is really versatile on guitar... very cool band.
from watt:
pop at six am. did not konking in this bed, too high off the deck and weird feel but I did konk and that's what's important for my health. sun is bright out the window but I bet it's colder than a witch's tit in a bass bra, correct? hodge is most most kind to get me a salad w/lots of arugula and checkpeas/cucumbers for morning chow at a nearby co-op store, most kind. I get sent this article on recent watt collabs from my il sogno del marinaio bandmate stefano pilia - so good to hear from him, can't wait to do more music w/him even though our last tour was just last year!
we pull anchor at eleven bells. no music on today's jaunt but cuz of woody's "the land is your land" tune, I get to spiel w/mike (other two crew in the realm of herr sandman so no involvement from them) about "owning" land in england (trip on this, "...while the king technically owned all land")... we get into tripping on who get's to hold the (as georgie would dig calling it) bent scepter besides who was bonin' who, correct? "hook or by crook" or by dazzling them w/brilliance or baffling them w/bullshit... our journey has us passing a sign on the road here in vermont for the brithplace of joe smith makes me think of the witnesses" which of course makes me think of for some reason shabbatai tzvi - oh yeah, there was a tangent on the stone of scone in between... mike ain't heard of any of this but I think he gets the idea of today's spiel - stuff going on inside the head while evidence of stuff outside fills the windows of the boat as we head for our next gig, that's a big part of what tour's about, correct? mike asks for a piss stop and w/out getting fuel, we do just that at a "mobil" station and then transition from I-91 to I-89, temperature in the thirties (fahrenheit) and snow all over the sides of the road even w/the sun lighting up a cloudless sky, way trippy.
I didn't notice again like yesterday when we crossed the state line but mike says that was prolly of construction - I became aware of no longer being in new hampshire when I saw that sign for joe smith, wondering aloud why it had "vermont" on it. crimony, mike was the first w/an answer, not me. digging on him not afraid to work the wikipedia though, way into that and it makes me think of d boon who always dug wondering aloud about stuff, especially history. forty years on, I'm helping w/bass to someone who suffers also from the disease of curiosity too, most bitchin.
I get us to the gig pad, my second time here at the monkey house in the middle of winooski... we got a parking spot right in front hatch, yes! immediate load-in is possible and implemented - no drama like what hodge got yesterday. it's really cold but clear and sunny, such a dangling duality, know what I mean? a few doors up I get a coup of matzoball soup from a pad "misery loves co." and man, it's really good. crimony. the people at the gig pad are really nice and after some hobbling (I gotta do some every day or I'll freeze up - trippy words to use at the moment) but gotta be careful cuz it's hilly around here... up ain't so pad w/my sitch but downhill, pert-near any kind of grade presents some peril so I take it slow. I have a piece of pizza which has got a thin crust and ain't giant. we check w/soundman paddy who's very cool people, again he's training someone to do what he's doing, love it.
I mean the openers swale from next door in burlington - I talk w/the guitarman eric, we had a big spiel last time I was here, he remembers lots of it about grant, I miss that man much. good to see eric again.
I can't go in the boat cuz it's just too cold for me... I went in there and tried to talk to my brother justin but he's real busy w/work, I'll try to tomorrow in ithaca. I come back and chimp diary 'til swale hits at eight, real good band and amanda sure can sing, whoa. real good bass from tyler too and the drummie jeremy. the gig's clean (old vaudeville spiel for 'sold out'), thank you good people of winooski!
our turn at twenty after nine. the winooski gig-goers are most kind and the openers swale really helped by getting them lit - they got me lit too and I thanked tyler and jeremy just before getting on stage for that in fact, such a gift one music cat can do for another. we have a good gig - there's clams but not enough to put the gig turtle (keel up, out of the water), the recovery trip is a most bitchin thing and so glad mike on the rudder is in to that. of course ears assist w/such a rescue but so are eyes - something a lot of music cats I think have to learn... so glad I got learned by the porno for pyros guys, they were way. no abbreviated version of dick hell's "another world" tonight, thank you much gig-goers here in winooski! there's a guitar note and a snare hit that had him stop and stutter though... later mike's debrief will address that...
before that was the load-out, a great cat name bobby helps me stowing my stuff in the boat, he gets every move happening first time, much respect! much good word from gig-goers - actually when on the stage but then when I'm in the boat behind the wheel (no motor on, waiting for the rest of the band to do their dance) w/the window down, I got no prob rapping w/cats - especially when the temp's in thirties like now!
we head over not too far (I learned winooski is the most dense town in new england - everything in one square mile!) to lauren and dan's, a pad from the 1880s that is way happening and so are they, their cat and dog - beautiful and most kind. they clear the living room for the air mattress... I hose off, get in the nightwear and then boom, I'm soon out, so grateful to be on this konk platform and not a fuckin bed like last night.
thursday, april 10, 2025 - ithaca, ny
from mike:
Thanks Lauren and Dan!
Charley’s gift: walnuts, both hands
missed the good tacos
from hodge:
woke up in a house that was made in 1880’s lauren & dan were awesome hosts. dan runs the local bike shop so we all got to talk bikes. bike seats, tires, handlebars, 6 month bike tours of south america. bikes definitely hold a lot of common. interests. lauren made the excellent breakfast!! they have the sweetest little doggie the name of which i have forgotten, but she was very sweet and enjoyed being adored and petted. and before you knew it 9:30am we are back in the boat off to ithaca, ny at “angry mom” records & books. we got to make a stop at david plymell and his wife’s house charlie is a soulful fellow. he’s famous knew all the beat poets and still does readings and residencies at colleges
lotta rain on our journey to angry mom's not cold enough for ice thank goodness, but close.
angry mom's is an upstairs venue, there was lots of help from the staff so that made load in and out so much easier. we got to shannon and joe's house for some sleep and and conversation, they had a lot of food out on the kitchen table i ate too much broke my rule no eating before bed, oh well.
from watt:
pop at six am. not long after (the air mattress is pretty much is the kitchen), lauren comes in and makes most happening french press coff, real good. me like a bozo thinking the back hatch is to the pad opens and finds dan - this is where they konk, not the back porch. crimony, am I sorry. everything ok though, lauren and dan are very cool people and we all have a great spiel w/them. they met through riding bikes and dan has a bike shop here, "winooski wheels" and damn if hodge way into pedaling and spiels all kind of bike stuff w/him. I chime in w/some too cuz I pedaled for about fifteen years after stopping for twenty years when I started driving as a teenager (like a fucking idiot) but I had to stop cuz of my knee stuff, had to quit paddling kayak maybe seven years now... yeah, thank god for my elliptical trainer, huh? I did hobble ten different hobbling paths every morning from 2019 - 2022 but even that got too dangerous. yeah, thank god for me elliptical trainer. lauren cooks up chow, makes me three fried over-medium eggs and a pancake w/a small sausage... my second pancake of tour which was the first ones I have it a buttload of years. like w/matt's in orlando, I'll blow these out pretty big time cuz I think my body just ain't used to them.
pull anchor at nine and a half and soon the blue sky goes gray. we're onus-7 and then vt-22a for about "a hollywood" (thirty miles, my pedro town to a punk gig in hollywood in th3 70s), I pull us over just before eleven at a "citgo" in fair haven, not to far from the new york border and gas up for $2.96/gallon, the head is where I blow out the breakfast though I'm sure it was healthy, my body just ain't used to pancakes... like w/matt's in orlando...
I get to thinking about my buddy charley plymell and ask mike if cherry valley (where charley and pam live) is on our way to our next gig and damn if it is so we plot a course. yeah, pretty last minute so maybe a senior moment but then charley's more senior at coming on ninety so fuck, I don't wanna miss this chance to see charley I got one - he's been really inspiring to me. there's lots of smaller roads and then I-87 and I-88 before we take mike's directs (he also creates the communication w/george in lawrence plus pam to make sure we ain't appearing from nowhere) and get to charley's pad. it's so good to seem him - I've stayed in this pad of his before and recognize from up the road. we can't stay long but we go in and visit as long as we can, charley talking about work he's and pam talking about stuff in her life - it's mike and hodge's first time to meet them and damn I wish we could spend an eternity but we can't and have to shove off at two, mike w/a handful of walnuts from charley.
love charley and pam much, it's heavy for me to say bye like we did. crimony... people in your life: very important, capable of bring big sea changes or subtle nuanced evolution, much respect to bof. just north oneonta (where nels lives these days) on ny-28 is a "mirabito" I go to piss at (no fuel for the boat) and get a coff, the counterlady asks me to donate to a local school by buy a "slim jim" poison stick and when say I don't chow those, she says I can donate the poison stick to the school - there's a box on the counter filled w/these things I guess other people donated already. I say yeah cuz it's econo but then I'm thinking why couldn't it good be a good chow donate, why does it have to be a poison stick one? crimony. it starts raining... remember it's also like 39º f, crimony. the last two hours on mostly one-lane tiny roads is like this. I am very very careful and am lucky hardly any bridges cuz those bambino freeze up first, black ice can be at the joints. we make it safe to ithaca though ten before five which is load-in time. whoa. that took some focus but that's what tour's about - not just on the stage trying to get the music together, correct? I think it's well worth it - when should a life be taken for granted anyway? crimony. after docking the boat where there was construction last time I played here - it's the second gig for me at angry mom records and cuz of the rain and stairs involved, I wanna reduce my chances of taking a tumble as much as possible so I stay in the boat, moving only from the driver's seat to the back bench, get blankies going and chimp diary while watching/listening to dr collier talks about physics as resistance which sounds like diluting bof trips but actually I feel they aid and abet, I shit thee not. you know what I'm always about: you take the k punk rock and and you got pun rock so I say "bring it, dr collier" and mean that sincerely.
mike brings me tacos, there's arroz y frijoles ('rice and beans' en epanol) w/them, first time on tour so maybe kind of guero style? no salsa though but for me tasting healthy but yeah, missing the mexican flavor... ever since coming from virginia and finding out about mexican chow, I 'pert-near don't think I love any chow more, can't explain why but it grabbed then and has never let go, just fuckin am way into it, especially autentica. in less younger age though the health dimension regarding chow means lots so I'm always thinking about that too. anything whole I'm digging these days, my body digs it too, not just a mind thing.
the wet/cold is bearing on me so I leave the boat and get into gig pad, locals material objects open the show up at eight, a trio w/some interesting stuff - I really dig the way the drummie tre composes his parts and his use of these kind of self-gating percusive trips that make big room for the singer/guitarman dominic's spiel who's got a neat anti-treble thing going w/his silvertone amp... bassman matt reminds me some of lou barlow bass thing - trippy when talking to him later he's a guitarman like lou who then came to bass, I'm learning! strummy drone but not a lou clone - please know that. love thinking about music egged on by cats finding their own way to bring it, you know?
our turn next and it's challenging a little bit on the tecnical side cuz of monitor stuff but I'm committed to the ithaca gig-goers who can't even hear the monitors and also to mike and hodge that deserve I feel what they need from me and not let stuff distract me. I always think of what scotty-san used to say "don't make it (whatever potentially it could be) be your problem" which meant to me a kind of "get out of the way of yourself" trip, try to struggle against the tendency you might find yourself having trouble resisting in regards to exaggerating something from a healthy perspective might actually appear pretty tiny in the big picture. be more selective in your bellyachin or at least more creative how you can channel into something positive and I don't mean this like a yammering "self-hlep" doubletalk butfull of jive shill either... specifically I'm talking about sizing up a sitch and making conscious choices that make sense and ain't petty but fitting the focus for an aiding and abetting rally that can bring what you can to what is healthy for bof the cats you're doing it w/and the cats you're doing it for. in my mind, otherwise what's all about, a wannabe butch fuckin man-dance for the mirror? fuck that. plus, I think the quota for that kind of shit is way fulled up and bloated by the buttload already, especially these days, correct?
the material object cats are most kind to get my stuff down all the steps and over the boat and stowed, most kind. beautiful spirits, I wish them the best. I got much good word from the ithaca gig-goers too, most grateful for that also. I was reminded for more finale spiel mike let's me have to recall seeing chris corsano play live for the first time and damn if that didn't lead me to do a tour that really learned me about really improvising instead of this fucking lame half-ass way I was going on about lots of times before. eternally grateful to that drummerman and this pad in this town was part of that connect. crimony.
we shove off for candor about a half south to konk at joe and shannon's... the rain stopped so the ride safer even w/the dark, temp still in the thirties. we get there and he's a got a room for the air mattress. I'm really really tuckered from this day's stuff and am out moments (last watch check was 'pert-near midnight) after getting in nightwear which means minus a hose off - I didn't sweat either the whole fuckin day, kind of the opposite if there's such a thing. crimony.
friday, april 11, 2025 - buffalo, ny
from mike:
Can sleep anywhere
So much confusion, this gig?
Regardless, we play!
from hodge:
shannon and joe made a big a breakfast shannon and i watched drew barrymore on the tv got a shower and we were off to buffalo to the revolution art gallery. got there early grabbed a quick coffee and we set up got the sound check done and got to rehearse. baggetta grabbed tacos. i took a mile or two walk opening band is playing now. the folks really liked what we did, they clapped for a long time after we finished. took about 30 minutes to get to marty's house. second time i had been there. there are three beds in the basement so i get my pick.
from watt:
pop at six. no hose off - I'll do it tonight at marty's pad in hamburg (near buffalo) cuz of the weather sitch. joe's made me scrambled eggs and sausage, very kind of him. I have an interesting spiel w/him and his buddy ellis (they go back to junior high) about music stuff like bassoons, trombones, euphoniums (I got one of these and have tried to learn it, very difficult for me), clarinets, oboes... music is a great thing to spiel about, something I never get tired of unless some tries to get all reductionist on it, then I'm outta there cuz fuck that shit.
it's gray out and still cold but not raining when we say bye bye to joe and shannon, such kindness from them. pull anchor at eleven we goota head back north whence we came last night and take further smaller roads near the finger lakes to reach the new york thruway, before we connect w/that w/fill up the boat at a "kwik fill" in waterloo for $2.90/gallon a quarter after noon. on the way I get the italiano straight w/mike regarding aspetta ('wait') adesso ('now') cuz it's through his window (he rides in the starboard fore seat) and aids me into knowing if it's safe for to make a move w/the boat, just to make sure the way is clear. I used these w/the fratelli when I was on tour w/them eleven years ago so they didn't have to translate in their mind. their english is real good even they called niagra falls nee-a-ga-ra falls, no prob though - man I love those guys. I myself have to look more forward on the navigatore aid screen so the moves don't come up so last-minute... I got make sure I get all of us home safe. of course like everywhere else, pendejos are driving like pendejos but I give ground and stay as clear as possible from their child-fit was of operating dangerous stuff. this road ends in buffalo and I get us in the north park part where the gig pad the lounge at revolution gallery is, dock the boat in the back a quarter of three. the rain has held off but crimony is it cold. happy spring, correct? yes!
timo helps us do the load-in, his brand new unit, _omit the band_ includes the drummie mark from the sympathy hounds who opened for us last time we were in buffalo, at mohawk place but stuff got rough for that pad so we're here this tour. it's an art gallery... I find this one thing bringing what it seems is this same "theme" I've been rapping w/cats I encounter on this whole tour, new for them but kind of a "spiel ritual" which ain't every day but damn if not a lot of them... this time it's this cuckoo bird-based piece from john langford who used to drum in the original mekons hanging on a bulkhead here and that has me get into spieling about cuckoos and their brood parasite stuff and then scarabs, mallards, ant-caterpillar symbiosis and dinosaurs being actually ancestors of birds. it's 'pert-near like a set list for gigs, you know how a tour might have the same set list (sequence of tunes) for every show - like this tour does, in fact! crimony. it's like watt's dong more than one gig sometimes daily this tour: one for on stage and one for off... actually, some days I think I do more than one of these "off stage" gigs w/this "human encyclopedia routine," huh? crimony.
mike brings us chow (kind of guero tacos) from a pad called "lloyd's" and then I chimp diary... hey there's an email from charley - he says pam's gotta email coming for me w/a poem he meant to give me yesterday:
"JAM THE THROTTLE SKIPPER LARRY"
(SOS To Ensign Ferlinghetti of the Greatest Generation)
I think I've figured you out now Larry,
Your aloofness, looking aside to avoid intimacy
directness, indifferent, a literary lion in the S.F. hills.
Only getting in a conversation when a topic met
your interest, maybe grumbling about the tab
when too many poets were at the table.
Thanks for taking me & Pam to Mike's Pool Hall,
She was under age, but with you, respected
business man, no questions asked, long bar with
best food, the Salami Factory next door, with
San Francisco sourdough (they say "the mother
came there on a wagon train"). Old Italian men at
the tables studying the pool play, checkered table
cloths, Caruso on the juke box, a great cappuccino
on occasion at Cafe Trieste, your fabulous
North Beach in the day. Before GoGo got there
and gone, I got to visit other literary lions, too:
Rexroth, took Allen on my motorcycle to see
Patchen, first met you when Allen introduced us
at your home where you reclined in bed, offered
wine, and as we left, Allen said you were not
that good a poet, but you sure were able-bodied
one of the best minds of your generation, a "ninety
day wonder" the sailors or snobs may have said
while sipping martinis at the Top of The Mark
watching your ship sail under the Golden Gate.
"Just kids" they may have said as the seagulls fl ew
into the peace of the sky and you sailed into Hell.
Kids they were, washing their skivvies and hanging
Them to dry while trying to keep the collar starched,
the tie straight, the commander's cap on just right.
I asked if you wanted to go with me & Pam to see
Neal off on the bus with Tom Wolfe, Kesey and the
Pranksters, not interested, and when you came to my
Gough Street party with Allen, Whalen, McClure, et al,
where Beats met Hippies, wild LSD dances happening,
you stood alone looking indifferent at the scene, aloof
offered conversation only when someone engaged you.
I bet I know why... a mild case of PTSD? They called
it "shell shocked" then, if not from shells, certainly the
shock of witnessing Nagasaki, immediately then a pacifist,
saw humanity and all living creatures in a different light,
like others, never to talk about the war, especially among
other beatnik poets, intellectuals, and the like. Hell you
could have shown the judge the photo of you as commander
and said, "Sorry, that's the way we talked in the war", but it was
the model of how to sell copies, howling about free speech.
You became a Francophile, met Mary Beach put in internment
Camp when Nazis invaded Paris, a photo of her with your boss,
Ike, after the war with his hand on her backside (upper in the photo).
I take back all the bad things I've said about you. Who cares about
the little royalties. Honored to have you publish my poem in City
Lights Journal and my fi rst book. You came over to our pad to help
Neal get his book together with Allen and published him instead of
another book by Kerouac. Allen did the lit talk. Neal rolled a joint.
You sat quietly as usual, maybe remembering the dark waves
rising up like ship's hulls at Normandy. You lived a long life.
(Navy chow?) Saw the perverted power begin other atrocities
the Big Lie of Viet Nam. Th e Big Lie of the Gulf War, invading
sovereign countries and killing their leaders, Capitalistic Lies
for greed and avarice, oil, dope, derivatives, dark money, guns. etc.
And now the Big Lie again when you lay dying. Ironically, we fell
under the Th ird Reich's "Lie repeated often enough becomes the truth"
that you fought against. Th e criminal madman again with trouble using
the language, literature unknown, but able to gain power telling The Lie
for the ignorant hypocrites, fundamentalists, meth head Insurrectionists.
We used to ask, "Where were the citizens who listened to Brahms & read Goethe"
that let a criminally insane madman become the leader.
Now we are again in that peril, the crises in the world you fought against.
SOS Larry, help save our souls, save our ships, wherever you are.
- Charles Plymell
(courtesy of Bottle of Smoke Press)
whoa, I trip on this... I remember when he did this but now this really gets things illuminated for me.
timo brings his band at eight, man was timo so kind to help us schlep our stuff in and later I found out from marty (the man who connected this gig for mike and where we're konking tonight) that he might be getting that mohawk place back in action. oh, this cat phillip freedenberg gives me his book "america and the cult of the cactus boots: a diagnostic" but can't see our music cuz he says his kids are waiting for him, I guess he just stopped by. I tell one cat I'd love to see: bird from off beat cinema, love that cat! he saw us last time we were and even had us on, I shit thee not.
we're told to go at nine and a half. that's what we do. I thought for sure they talk over "boat song" but besides a yelp and some other whoop, the buffalo gig-goers are really kind to us, big respect to them truly. the band's pretty focused to and in the moment... I blew some clams but I think I can get those fixed for next show.
a cat from poland gives me the good word, I thank him w/some "dzieki" when he tells me his origin, vey kind - lots of very kind here w/the buffalo gig-goers, much respect! of course, some exception (not even plural most times but...), I guess some people are convinced the closest way to your heart is to be unfriendly and pushy but w/watt that's when it's "up goes the drawbridge" time... not a revenge or retaliation move but big-time-only defensive maneuver to disengage from any more of an unhealthy sitch, that's it. absolutely meant to shorten the drama, no lingering animosity about it, fully swerve-to-avoid and get further (way further) down the road trip, absolute. mostly though are cats like this sincere young man w/what he tells me he got at a used book store and is still unread, a copy of my joyce's "finnegans wake" and like a baka I space on finding the other instance of "riverrun, past eve and adam's..." damn me for being so incompetent but my head's crowded w/stuff like the challenges of some people post-gig people drama which, c'mon - that's gotta be least meaningful lifewaste to suck any kind energy/love-connect from any two cats, correct? especially from two different towns, crimony. the sincerity of this young man who said his pop gave him one of my records, very kind of his pop and very kind of him... wish I had it more together for him, damn me. maybe next time I get to rap w/him, the lady w/him takes our photo.
it's a takes a forty minutes to get to marty's pad in hamburg (the new york town, not the germany one!) cuz there's much heavy fog and it's in the thirties º f so maybe ice on the deck? scary! also pendejos making things worse w/flagrant idiot "driving" (have to put that in quotes), especially w/these conditions. we have a good debrief on the way and arrive at lots of good things to think about. I love us not being afraid to talk about stuff like this and it's done w/out fear of crazy off the the subject stuff... so much "projecting" these days, correct? mssv likes to be on the mark w/still being loose. trippy. so good to see marty at his pad, where he does his gigs is where the air mattress goes and soon I'm konked. I'll rap more w/him in the morning, love rapping w/marty. just tuckered now kind of big time... I'll hose off tomorrow too. a photo of susan on the bulkhead, a big one, beautiful...
saturday, april 12, 2025 - millvale, pa
from mike:
Great sleep at Marty’s
Another gray, cold, wet day
Ed’s new songs: so good!
from hodge:
marty is a real chef, he made great breakfast tacos. and we were off to millvale, pa. the funhouse at mr. smalls. it's quite a complex it's an old church that has been re purposed into a restaurant a recording studio and a music venue. ed from ohio (firehose guitarist) is sitting in with us tonight. and his band is one of the opening bands. tonight we stay with gary and jessica smith. we always get to stay with them. they really put out the food and hospitality.
from watt:
pop at seven, pour coff down in-hole and the hose off, good long one w/towels marty said gets donated to him from a buddy who runs some 'tels and has extras. marty makes us breakfast tacos made w/potatoes and poblano chiles, I dig them. I sign his guest book, so many times I've been here... he's got three shows coming up and says that's why he didn't bother moving the furniture back from where the air mattress went - good to know the place you've konk has also been the scene of where creativity was also brought. big hugs for marty, dig him much.
it's gray, rainy and cold, we pull anchor at eleven. westward ho, marty's pad in hamburg puts us on path east by southeast w/out having to go through buffalo, once on I-90 we cross into pennsylvaina at quarter after noon, bye bye new york... a few minutes later were at a "sheetz" in edinboro (note the u.s. spelling), fueling the boat for $3.60/gallon. onward to I-79 and south... the rain quits but it's still cold. I get us in to millvale which is northeast of pittsburgh right off the allegheny river and to the gig pad which is a room at mr smalls a quarter of three. temp in the thirties, we load in from the rear, thank god for the shine kart, truly cuz it really helps w/the schlep. the soundman is fletcher and he's very cool people, ready to be our fourth man and we're way glad for that. we set up and check w/him, alright. I meet the gig boss derek and he's very happening, we have a good long spiel about lots of stuff, he's a guitarman also. he's glad to have us - I played the other room they got here in 2017 w/the jom & terry show opening for the meat puppets and I got a good feel then... when mike told me about him booking us here, I was into to it and meeting gig boss derek here confirms that.
mike gets tacos from a place he was told that just opened and they're good... who then arrives? edward and I hug him big time. his new band is doing their very first gig tonight, yes! we have a big spiel talking about the tour so far w/me. we talk lots when I'm in pedro so it ain't like there first time I've heard from edward but it's so great to see and be w/him now. he goes to do his check w/his guys so I go to the backstage to chimp some diary (too cold for me in the boat still) and what's this? whoa, dr collier isn't one those people w/a youtube station that does one a day I was surprised to find another one the new one from her but it was where she writes about books (and in this case a little about knitting socks also), it's about the ten she's read lately and for me, it was a watch cuz reading has informed me prolly more than other way of human connect if I seriously stepped back and added it all up. prolly keeps my mind and in turn hopefully my brain as well - "if you don't use it, you'll lose it" kind of a trip, correct? I believe, yes. I mean, sure, youtube better than tv tv but to have think about making sense of communication via symbols organized into words into sentences into paragraphs - kind of like learning from math formulas in a sense, other perspectives of getting shit together to help w/the reality on the dealio, correct? I especially wanna read this book she speaks of that's a bio on these three mothers cuz my ma, d boon's ma and georgie's ma had huge effects on us minutemen. d boon's ma got him on guitar and then put me on bass. georgie's ma let us prac in the she in her pad in pedro and my ma let d boon live w/us when I was having knee surgeries in my early twenties and also had to live w/her... my ma in fact has some spiel in the "we jam econo" doc on the minutemen, keith schieron and tim irwin being very kind to put her in.
the gig starts w/a duo called crush curl and they remind me of mr tom - kind of cuz mr is mr tom, correct?! yes sir. I ask them when they finish - they're really nice cats, I ask them about their composition way and one tells me he starts some stuff w/a baritone guitar, whoa! bands w/the tunes coming from the bass for watt is almost as interesting these days as tune coming from the drums... me and roger miller are exploring such a thing and of course there's this album stickman brendan canty wants to do w/me. pete voskamp too w/his brother john... crimony! I'm just way into and have got my mind full of this - maybe it's starting the tour when georgie was in the opening band on the first gig... also mike was telling hodge a lot of this next mssv album he wrote the songs for it really featuring him - maybe there's a spirit going on recognizing drummers got sutff for all us other cats operating other instruments can all from... I think this is a way happening thing!
edward and his band go on and I watch their set. edward's really good and so is his band. me and edward were talking about the old days some earlier backstage w/them there and I could tell me and edward share things these cats just didn't have going on cuz of the sitch, they're from later days. I mean I'm from days earlier than edward but then he jumped on from ohio and learned real quick what me and georgie had learned to do, absolute. we ain't talking sentimental either but ways of getting things done w/out compromising the expression - the hear of what jamming econo is about. so good to see edward playing again and his neighbor fellow-citizen pittsburgh gig-goers give him a happening response, seems they're as happy as I am to see edward bringing it. he gets done and I congratulate him. I also thank the band cats too, especially the guitar and drum, I ask them to please keep it going and play more gigs w/him, record too - the drummie says there's a connect in cinci that can make it happen. fuck yeah!
our turn and man am I lit - thank you edward. mr tom and maux's here too, fuckin righteous! whoa, music cats getting other cats lit: one of the greatest gifts ever. we do have a happening gig, the gig-goers here being a big part but also the band is really cooking - we can get stuff better but damn, we're more and more getting our stuff stronger. we bring edward on for "the red and the black" from the b.o.c., richard hell's "another world," drum fun from hodge segment and then w/edward again for "human reaction" from mike. I'm loving it.
real good word from these gig-goers here in millvale, I'm really happy to spiel w/them while packing my stuff up. very genuine and sincere feelings, I'm most grateful. gary smith is here to lend a hand w/his buddy jason - jason just got to record w/bob pollard, yes! another buddy of gary's helps by getting the speakerbox in the boat, takes a couple of moves but he does great. everybody's in great spirits, I'm so happy. I get to hug edward one more time, yes!
now sewlickey is about fourteen miles away and it's by the allegheny too but what makes it a little tough is fucking pendejos driving like fucking pendejos, some of it's really terrible and worse: dangerous. we survive though and get to gary's safe. it's such a great pad gary's got, him and jessica are just the best. gary's buddy jason shows me an sst ('solid state tuner') antenna tuner that greg ginn had me solder toroidal coils for in the early 1980s at the torrance sst pad, whoa! I haven't seen one of these in years! man, do I owe greg buttloads for so many things... anyway, I ask jason here him about recording w/bob pollard cuz this cat amazes me w/his prolific trip, crimony! very interesting what I learn from jason... it ain't all just one way, makes total fuckin sense! then look who's here? I get to rap again to mr tom and maux, yes and this time I can focus on this music stuff I've been thinking of cuz I respect their opinions much and to bounce this "bass in a world of music" thinking is so bitchin for me. I really word dance w/it, trying to keep the focus and be clear and not blurry. I really feel these cats as a community in music I wanna be part of. I run out of gas and gotta konk though, it's late for me. I gotta write here it's so much about people in my life that inform my way of being my own person, being watt - it's watt learning from others to help what watt is trying to become - even w/all the alone time, I'm forever in other cats classroom, trying to keep my fucking mind open enough to get a brimfull, here in this life to fuckin learn! so glad to say what I could, so glad... thank you mr tom and maux, thank you big time for letting me think out loud regarding music - mr watt owes you buttloads...
sunday, april 13, 2025 - cleveland, oh
from mike:
Boolean logic
Reunite with Des
Watt welcomes her in
from hodge:
Demos Ioannou we always stay with demos he always cooks lunch for us and breakfast the next morning. he is the best, a great guy fun to talk to. that night at the gig the opening band Well was really great. stand up bass sax keys great drummer! i love hearing bands that show they know about good jazz but don't ignore the fact that it's 2025 and they have heard hendrix and sly stone etc. etc. really charming.
from watt:
pop at seven, hose off and get coff that had been set to go automatically by jessica, most kind of her. later she makes up scramble eggs and sausage for us... so much of this kind of chow for morning for watt which is lots different than self-made breakfast in pedro which are kind of like what most people might shovel later in their day. this stuff people have been most generous w/providing though is whole and solid, keeping me healthy and not drowning in sugar either. I'm most grateful. last spiels gary and her, jason also is shoving off says maybe he'll see us somewhere else? I know him and hodge had much to spiel w/last night, bof them being drummermen.
we pull anchor at eleven and a half. haleluja, it's double-nickels fahrenheit w/clear skies... when was that last, just before that downpour in savannah? crimony! somehow I get to spieling w/mike about george boole and the fuckin logic that runs 'puters... actually, I think it started w/romans "spelling" numbers like they were words and how fuckin lame that is compared to have info embedded via a matrix (properties defined by position) like arabic numerals - the idea of base-ten is new to him, well, it's what's most of us use all the time so maybe you don't notice it 'til you're talking base-two which is where that boolean stuff lives... it ain't hard to get him the stuff to get a handle on it. you know, my pop got me this subscription to scientific american when I was a teenager, he told me he wanted to be curious about how stuff worked even if there was no immediate answer, just the act being in wonder was what I think he wanted me full of. he loved explaining stuff he learned to me, loved it... this from a guy who never graduated high school - he got all his learning from the navy, working in engine rooms. he always wanted me curious about the world. twenty of one I get us to the state line w/ohio, bye bye pennsylvania, we're on the ohio turnpike a halfhour later... I get us to demos' pad in the shaker heights part of cleveland at quarter afer two, he's got a greek flak out front. he says it's the last time I'll konk here cuz he's bailing - maybe still here but maybe also by where we're playing tonight, we'll see. he's cooked up some good chow for us: a greek salad (of course!) some salmon sitting on mochi rice, some "watt sauce" (via el enojado to go along w/it. so good to see demos, truly it is. we spiel as much as we can... oh, des is here too - fucking baka watt - mike's wife des is here, most happening to have her for the next two gigs, love it!
we shove off from demos' and get to the collinwood part of east cleveland just before four, first time I've been to the beachwood tavern when it wasn't gray and cold in a few tours. I hobble around this area called "waterloo" a few blocks to and fro so I can get some mobility and exercise in my non-elliptical-trainer-cuz-of-tour mode cuz damn if I ain't missing it 'pert-near worse than any jones I've had about other stuff, I shit thee not. I get back and bob teagan's here, yes! he made the hellride from fraiser , mi and I'm so glad to see him, he'll video the gig like he always does. love bob, truly.
confusion w/the mangager lady and the security man... "who is this older gentleman?" I tell them I'm the bass player, I'm the driver man and I don't mean to confuse... reverend guitars? jefe ken haas is here, so good to see him again! we talk about the new plans for his company, how much I'm into my wattplower and how now all my recording is getting done w/it, all. I can't thank him enough - joe naylor too but he ain't here but I bring it to him in spirit. we do soundcheck w/very cool soundman jordan and damn if we don't stumble on to a mungo jerry only-hit-blunder trip going for the "see through you" snare, crimony! makes me think of the part after the first two verses of "all things come" (another new tune for the next album) where hodge "dances" w/his brushes, calling it the "fred a'sanre" part, something to cue the head w/out thinking too much, capito? this gig pad has it's back stage in another building a couple doors down the street so I go there and chimp diary. someone brings us chicken things kind of caribbean style w/some rice and salad. I chow that and we keep the lights off... damn if I konk and am woken (damn me for missing the openers well which mike told me are a great improv unit, damn me again) by the leash w/nevada brown (a drummer I met last tour up in victoria) w/his buddy sean who's doing a video on a london, ontario, canada gig pad called call the office I played three times years ago, I place I dug much. damn me for this too cuz gig time is coming right up but somehow I get the spiel done - nevada and sean are beautiful cats and help me much w/me spiel for this diy-trip I felt much affinity and resonance w/cuz of where I've always been at w/the movement, big time honored to be part of it lore and hope its story inspires future trips swinging for the fence just as hard, letting the freak flag fly.
I get in the gig pad just in time for our 9:20 start time and we bring it, the cleveland gig-goers real good w/their spirit-bring plus bob's capturing it all for his youtube station, the wendy hour. ok, a little drama for watt in the encore but actually more of the panty-bunch moment will be later in the boat getting back to demos... I think the band does real good - oh, I blew a pretty big clam in "even so" but got covered but the clam being a good seven to get back in after a respite for the recovery move, lucky watt. later in the tour I can have focus problems, taking stuff for granted by getting slack w/focus so I gotta get that together.
so good to see the dual decibel system john and miss melvis here right as I'm packing up - they got new music, yatta! also ziggy of c-level who donated a sack of 'dines and oranges for us to go in the boat, most kind, truly! lots of gig-goers are most kind, I get to hear a less-younger skater bring me past stories of him skating to the "santa cruz - streets on fire" vhs - I get this lots along w/the "ohio skateout" one that was out about the same time, my first fIREHOSE years... I did some stuff for "thrasher magazine" even. crimony, so kind cats still support what I'm trying to do now, much respect to them.
before we brought the richard hell song ("another world"), I did a shout-out to pere ubu's bassmen: tony mamone, tom herman and tim wright but like a total fucking baka, I say rick instead of tim (rick wright was the keyboard man in fuckin pink floyd, crimony!), damn me for that... I actually realized that clam in the second verse and acknowledge it over the mic ("is this an addition to the original lyeric?" crimony!) but too late, I get my all shook up and damn if I the panties don't get all bunched up and shit. arrrgghhh, damn me. all three of these bassmen really had impact on me, especially via the movement when I was really motivated to bring it for d boon, really was. anyway, the co-owner here cindy comes up to talk w/me and I'm so embarrassed but tom herman being part of makes me think of this proj I was dong w/him that got sidetracked w/my "bottle battle" and tell her about it... she's the first one I've talked to about this - too ashamed to discuss it was tom himself even, can you believe? well, it came out... just tumbled out and I told her how much to meant to me to get to do this w/him and we got halfway and well... well, I was gonna wait 'til I got a thousand days dry (164 to go - I show her the little program on my leash that's counting) and then ask to give me another try. I got so much respect for this man, so much - it's an incredibly big deal to me that I fucked up like I did... it's been diggin inside me so much to make get the boat righted, get shipshape w/him and get our work built and launched - oh how it's gnawed on me and in a positive sense, a big motivation in me getting that plug in the jug, I shit thee not. it was just about getting enough time dry so he wouldn't think I was jive like the first time I fell of early in our proj - I was so ashamed for the second time, I cloudn't bring myself to tell him... so trippy but this all came out now, just like that and the bosslady cindy here was so kind to hear me out and in fact said she thinks it would be happening to get this record finished w/tom, she thinks it wold be a real good thing - in her words, "for bof of us" - crimony... man, I respect that man so so much and it's been a big hurt in me to stumble like that - even more incentive for me to be together w/out that stuff - get it out of the way of keeping from being together. man, this is a trippy thing and I don't think she knows how this was very heavy for me but now chimping this the next day, I'm real glad it did come out - maybe it just had to? I'm still gonna get more time though so I can show him I'm healthy enough and worthy fo all the time and focus he put into this, we called it _ship to shore_ and I really wanna do this w/him, he deserves the best I can bring. d boon loved his guitar work, I'm remember the first time we saw them at the whisky in west hollywood, georgie too - all three of us blown away w/huge sea change made in our lives.
whoa. I go to the boat and just think about all this. after the load-out, des helping mike, hodge and miss hiyori w/watt behind the wheel in this weird state... we pull anchor and mike does the debrief and then I start hollering about the dick hell song and not being together at all, it's very strange and I can't blame any of them for thinking I'm way wack. they all help deescalate stuff and we get to a point of having a further debriefing of the gig that's calmer - we're talking about the bassplayer having to get calmer and more together. arrrghhh, kind of (kind of?) disappointed in myself, like disappointed in myself w/album w/tom herman... demos gets things kind of into a place for me (obviously he had no idea cuz he wasn't in the boat) by talking about creedance which of course I knew a buttload about and w/me going into sermon mode for a while w/just me and him, I get calmed enough to go hose off and konk. so thank everyone for tonight wether you know it or not, watt really needed help and got it... most kind people in my life, crimony it's a trip the way this stuff goes, it truly does. to think demos and creedence, mssv tour mates, the gig-goer and his skating memories, the doc maker and the canada gig-pad, tonight's gig boss, tom herman...
monday, april 14, 2025 - columbus, oh
from mike:
Warmest weather yet?
Dystopian taco scene
Good rally gig & Scrawl!
from hodge:
this was the club with the stage painted like a david lynch movie. black and white zig zag pattern and the back curtains were red just like in his movies.
scrawl was a great opening band two women and a guy drummer. they ladies had worked together off and on for many years. they sounds they made with their voices and instruments was enchanting...
from watt:
pop at five of eight. I hose off while demos cooks up a omelette that's got some crab, I have a slice and think he did ok, his coff even better, I get three doses of that. I visit his little finches in this pad that'll prolly the last time here, there's a sculpture looking at the window and I'm guess it's toward the future, demos' future. I rap w/him about his past, about the two "conduit people" he can trace lineage from... always a big rap w/brother demos - actually it started last night w/ccr stuff he's way short on knowing. I want him to check out this cat farya faraji that I'm really into, this cat really lays it out about how music itself is fucking big time conduit stuff, I shit thee not. his videos kick up much dust and I just bet d boon would dig him cuz first he's a historian (d boon loved history) and is into music - d boon thought there was also a major connect there, would spiel to me about all the time. we're playing the town where he went to ohio state... bye bye demos!
we pull anchor at eleven, des accompanying us - she's on a little tour herself (two gig tour, really tiny). the temp read 69º f as we head southwest via akron and onward on i-71 w/me getting us off at burbank (not the cali one) which is near lodi (no that calit one again) to fuel the boat for $$2.66/gallon at a "pilot" which is ass-to-mouf on a "wendy's" which has got on its bulkhead at poster for maybe something that fits in the mouf?
not just nuggs but saucy nuggs. I guess these days' space food stick - those fit in the mouf as well. sure, they're new... I get us to the high street and about a block or so where we were the last two times in columbus but this time the gig pad is the ace of cups which used to be owned by the guitarlady marcie of the band opening the show tonight scrawl, ain't that a trip? I met them in the late 80s via ed fROMOHIO and have always dug them. we're here early, something this band under mike digs and I love it, love getting to the gig pad early so zero stress in that department: the getting to the gig part. I chimp diary, the gig boss kyle arriving around four, dig this man much, he's a bass brother too.
across the street from the parking lot where I'm chimping diary, a few doors down fro the "ne chinese chowpad" I had the most bitchin fish and vegetables soup from is this sign saying "redmen sioux tribe 128" - damn if in my pedro town if we ain't got an improved order of red men "wigwam" also at 543 shepard street, near land's end. I think they do open mic nights there lately. of course lots of irony involved cuz fucking humans are involved, correct? there's s a chow pad called "ne chinese restaurant" that's go a soup w/fish and pickled vegetables in it the I dig chowing big time, thank you miss hiyori for picking/bringing. next to that is another chow pad, "cinnamon indian grill" (some say red dot not red feather meaning cats from overseas and not here) where I get myself (just before checking w/soundman brian who's most happening) my favorite "indian" chow, saag paneer w/garalic nan bread w/the very kind man there giving me what he calls "mexican chili" when I told him where I live in response to him asking how spicy I needed it. very kind. now get this: mike already brought us tacos - finally some more like autenica: two tortillas, cilantro instead of lettuce but he says it's also halal (a sign in the india chow pad said halal too so maybe kashmir or pakistan or bangladesh?) - it's pollo too... whateve, it tastes good and healthy so that's what matter most to me. I find it interesting too when things blend genuine also. the trip is three chows though, crimony! no way have even come near this much chow this tour in one day. again: crimony.
I go watch scrawl play and dig it much. I talk to marci after but soon it's our turn - we get to go on early. the columbus gig-goers are most kind, I forgot to mention I met lots before outside - all very kind and they show it at showtime also, much respect for all of them, truly! we have a part malfunction in "another" but I'm for sure certain it's gonna learn us... the same w/other new one "see through you" cuz sometimes fluster can be contagious. I did 'pert-near ripped my llaves (secret watt word for keys - ask that lady up a the glendale ford place) of its bootleg cuz that's what these chair can sometimes do so I unhook them for the gig. some yammering "boat song" but what can you do? mike tries to suggest a quick "for the last minute and a half can you shut the fuck up for?" but... don't need to get into it. it's areal good gig, I holler scrawls name before the dick hell tune - hey, one of the best versions we've done of it all tour, thank you hodge!
much good word and kindness to the gig-goers after. adam came all the way from cinci to his photo take w/me. lots of genuine kindess, means much to me. gig boss kyle helpl schlep and stowe my bass stuff including the bass itself, taking very good direction while simultaneously have a good conversation regarding bass. respect. many gig-goers come up to the boat's window and I spiel from there... a former soundlady from the last version of stache's spiels w/me, saying she got to once again here the "mike watt sound" and I think my face got red, she's real kind tough, her and her sister. I get to say bye to bob teagan... yes, he's on the same two day mini tour des is on also but in man-alone mode w/a hellride back to michigan ahead, I wish him safe seas. scrawl basslady sue is the last I rap w/as mike returns w/the bidniz done... she works at the same vet clinic on campus at ohio state that we're dropping des off tomorrow on our way to indiana - ain't it a small fuckin world sometimes or what? crimony!
we pull anchor and get over to bassbrother john zuck's pad. no drama from the bass player this time during the debriefing, mike dug the gig. we talk about the clams that were blown, we can deal w/them we all three agree. des and miss hiyori witness a much after gig shove off to the konk pad than they did in cleveland, huh? I am very glad to chimp you that here now! bassbrother john is most kind to have us aboard, I remember the last time I was here, I popped in the middle of the night to have more jim beam down the fuckin hatch. not tonight, nope. it's really good to see bassbrother john again, truly. I konk quick and grateful.
tuesday, april 15, 2025 - indianapolis, in
from mike:
Windy, bye to Des
La Parada - hot sauce breaks
Thanks State Street Pub - great folks there!
from hodge:
we have done several gigs with jordan's different bands this time it was Free Thought Narrative and duo jordan and drums trance-ish and and dark. we have stayed at his house three times now. it's a comfortable old wooden house two story. i always stay in a downstairs den and blow up my mattress. there dog stayed the night with me. on the couch under a bunch of pillows. dog loves to cuddle until you touch around his collar then he tries to bite you. he got close lucky i was quick. there is a great coffee shop just down the street and turn left from jordan's house. 5 minutes walking we don't go there together but every time i go there is see jordan.
from watt:
pop at seven. I hose off. john makes up scrambled eggs but I wait for everyone else to shovel cuz it's more calm that way. we spend a lot of time together so do we always have to chow w/each other? I hardly ever chowed w/my bands after the minutemen and fIRHEOSE... it was kind of w/the latter I started chowing more away, kind of was edward's idea... edward hard a lot of good ideas for that band actually but then actually so did georgie. it's gray and in the forties outside... I chimp dairy and then john wants to talk about my wattplower. he's a bassman and just got a gig w/a funk band he tells me and what he saw/heard last night made him wanna maybe get one, said it sounded "fat" and that's might what he wants to bring for this new trip for him?of course I spiel it up, all the thinking that went into the mark II which was the mark I mostly w/dave wintz's "pit bull" pickup - I've only used that this tour cuz I think it goes good w/mike's mssv stuff, I use joe naylor's pblades more w/my secondmen and missingmen and also w/perk and peter in hellride. I did use the pit bull pickup only helping the porno for pyros though... again, seemed to work good w/their music. bass cats look good making the cats their playing w/look good, that's what I believe.
we pull anchor at eleven, take a photo w/john first, good luck to him. we head over to ohio state and drop des off at the veterinarian part, she was a great tour mate, respect! we need then get out of town and west on I-70, reaching the indiana state line just before one - mike reading to us about zane grey on the way fuck, zanesville is on the other side of columbus but he ended fishing a bunch off catalina island so maybe that's why I brought him up (saw his pad there)... I knew he wrote westerns, that about it - the only westerns I've read are "the border trilogy" by cormac mccarthy, don't know much about them but mr mccarthy sure is a good writerman in my opinion. ten minutes later I pull us over at a "pilot" near richmond and fuel up the boat at $3.02/gallon. on and off rain, temp in the forties but it gets dryer the further we get from the border... bye bye ohio... lots of this indiana pavement makes a loud sound - not the dark asphalt kind but this lighter-colored concete stuff, trippy. at first I thought we were draggin something that was scraping on the deck! crimony. looks like it holds up pretty good though... maybe that's the trade-off?
two and a half, I get us not too far east from indianapolis' downtown to tonight's gig pad, the state street pub - maybe my third time playing here? very nice people, soundman mark checks after he arrives in a bmw w/no front license... there was another bmw w/no front license plate either - mark tells me indiana is one of the last states not to have front license plates mandatory... how do they do the modern way of doing tolls I wonder aloud... there's a great mexican chow pad named "la parada" nearby and mike gets me some carnitas tacos which are really really good - these are autentica but their way. I really dig them. after I get chowing, look who pulls right up next to the boat, it's my old buddy kemp (got a music store, kemp music in vincennes in southern indiana, right next to the border w/illinois) - he's been seeing my gigs since the late 80s, so very good to see him again, so good. we rap about much, catching up. he tells me he does gigs in the back room of his music store, he calls it "the gold room" and man, I wish I could play there! he says he's right by the wabash river, says he sold a cat there a 1852 martin guitar, can you believe? crimony. my old pool cleaner buddy tony (we lost him in 2010, broke my heart) love stuff like that... sometimes we'd drive up to hollywood just to look at old guitar/bass stuff, just look and drool... get a "pink's" dog on the way back to our pedro town... man, I miss him, miss him real bad. so good to see kemp here, so good. he tells me he has to go chow and rest... I go to the boat and konk.
opening tonight's gig are _free thought narrative_ has the most kind cat jordan and also tile who we've shared the stage here w/before. however, I konk in the boat cuz of being tuckered, just the way tour has had w/me... it makes me disappointed not being able to absorb inspiration by witnessing fellow musicians bring it tonight but I must defer to stuff that keeps my health good, hence konked like a fucking whatever. damn me for not being strong enough sometimes, damn me.
mike rousts me just before ten... damn if it was fucking freezing in the boat - that's how fuckin tuckered I was, huh? anyway, we start w/one of the best opening improvs of the tour and then... crimony! the guitar's so loud in the monitors (understand, we put only voice in our monitors, no instruments ever) that he's gotta scissor the tune less than halfway - we start over but not the whole enchilada, just the tune. these things happen: sometimes pilot error and sometimes equipment fail. the key thing I think is to play the hand that's dealt the best you can and we keep it together. I also give credit to the indianapolis gig-goers being most gracious, you could hear a piojo's ('lice' en espanol) eyelash hit the deck in "boat songm" I shit thee not. much respect to them. I tell you a challenge I still got: turning on the "hooker's green bass machine" right when it should come on... it happens three times in just one tune but man, have I had trouble getting that together. it's the first time I've tried to use something like this since my second opera and that was twenty years ago!
I pack my stuff up and actually myself tonight get to wheel all my stuff to the boat, even stow it all in man-alone. it ain't a burden, I think it's good for me. of course I'm careful but you know what they say, "don't use and you'll lose it" - I wish more people would realize that w/me. I think the crutch and me being careful makes me look like I'm hurting but I sear I ain't. I'm just taking it slow, ki wo tsukemas (taking care). I sign much stuff at the window, behind the wheel where I feel safe... harder to fall from here, I even have the seatbelt on. it's ok, it's good for watt, good for where he is now w/his journey. mike gives us a debriefing on the gig to jordan's who ain't too far away. mike liked the gig but of course he's developing stuff cuz the gigs of the tour are also the pracs for the upcoming album: gig fiftythree! there's drama going on w/some pendejo threatening "big ego" stuio boss chris schlarb but mike's convinced we'll still be able to record w/him. I like chris much.
we get to jordan's and his dog "buddy" is very glad to see us, a great spirit in this wanko, absolute! too cold to hose off, I'll do that in the morning... no sweating at these gigs anyway which is so trippy cuz that used to always happen when I was more younger... maybe it's not just the weather? anyway, this is a great pad and the feel here lets me konk real easy and quick so I do.
wednesday, april 16, 2025 - chicago, il
from mike:
Tired of this cold
Got a walk, found good tacos
Best gig from this band?
from hodge:
woke up at jordan allen's fine home in Indianapolis very cool old wooden bungalow style home. Jordan and i always seem to meet up (unplanned) at the coffee shop just a few minutes walking from his house. they make a mean mocha. we are heading for chicago today. to play "the hideout" great little club nestled in-between large industrial buildings. great venue owner tim tuten is a real community advocate and artistic person. back in 2008 when i payed drums for mavis staples we made our first live recording there "hope at the hideout" a few years later we again with mavis we were to play his outdoor festival. so on my drum ryder i had listed "i want a big ass drum throne" one like yamaha makes its got like a wide bench seat to put my big butt on. tim saw that and immediately thought throne for mavis. so when we got to the festival they said here is your big ass drum throne. it was literally a throne with arms and jewels and it said mavis at the top. the thing was a giant chair with arms and a regal back and the word Mavis at the top. i was kinda embarrassed; "i said this can't be for me this is for mavis which it was. well it's up stairs in the green room in all its glory, in great condition. what a dummy i should have taken pictures. we played a great set. i loved the opening band "mute duo" sam wagster on pedal steel and samples and skyler really really great drummer.
from watt:
pop aroung seven, this time of year now and where we are has sun at that time, I can dig it... maybe it's why I pop then now? I hose off after sending out the spiels for tonight's chi-town gig, something I do as part of my morning thing. a life is made up of many days... the sun rises an the sun sets, correct? jordan's dog buddy is glad to see me, very glad. I get my photos all named the way they need to be... I gotta start updating the hoot page w/them to go w/the diary I've been chimping. I hear a couple of spiels from professor tim (points out some good stuff and worth most the time taking the chance to hear him out) and dr hossenfelder (I think her having herseof do one each day has some that ain't that good be there's some I dig time to time) each and then one from slavoj zizek on ai (mr zizek is a trip!), of course one from steven alcohol free lifestyle (part of that group of nine that helps me keep healthy) - oh, there's one from charley's latest reading, a poem for neal cassady from a couple days ago. this is the only kind of "tv" I watch ever, stuff that learns me stuff.
I don't just listen to internet stuff but also read... besides us, I read that bernie sanders and alexandria ocasio-cortez are on tour also. also I've been reading about jasmine crockett who ain't on tour but still thinking out loud none the less. that's what d boon used to say about minutemen lyrics: "thinking out loud" cuz he thought the political stuff of the band had to do w/how we organized the three us regarding our music which in turn was informed by our reaction to the "arena rock" experiences we had to going to those kind of shows when more younger. I believe now when I look back at the punk movement, that's what it was rather than some kind of musical style - the "style" was up to each band/person, punk to me was us 70s guys finding out about club stuff cuz all we knew was that "nurenmberg rally" way of being at a concert and for us that shit was way jive compared to what we discovered at the gigs up in hollywood - forever changed our understanding of the whole enchilada.
in the boat at for anchor-pull at eleven but the damn leash' applemap stuff won't use bluetoof to connect so we spend time for a reach-around and und up using a usb-a to usb-c cable from miss hiyori as a half-ass in the meantime. "it works until it doesn't" is the safe philosophical route in these sitchs, correct? trying to being a know-it-all in my experience just seems to hurt the cause to fix... better to "isolate the pertinent variables" as much as poss as you trying to backing up into it from where you guess "success land" took a wrong turn, work from there as if the power went off in the bathhouse and you're left w/nothing but groping... we got a gig in chicago to do! ok, we can't hear sounds in shuffle mode from the usb stick cuz that port is now being bogarted by the leash and are enlightened via onscreen "usb hubs are not allowed" but damn if we ain't been hearing these the last few days anyway, most of the sound filling the boat is watt's fuckin yammer or mike supplementing it w/stuff he finds via the internet via his leash... I take us north by northwest on I-65, lots of pendejos along the way putting in their quota of scaring the shit out of w/their fucked up selfish amateur pathetic misuse of taking a vehicle on the road. the weather is clear but in the forties fahrenheit... wondering where spring is? mike finds a tip on how to reset the "ford sync" system that runs the screen stuff here in the boat - I've reset my leash w/a reboot and tried all the reconnects... I do deduct a prob is no bluetoof connect and manage to get that happening but it's still no-go w/the "carplay" sitch... mike finds a hint at reddit for rebooting (re-setting) the "ford sync" by holding down the volume 'down' button (found on the port side of the steering wheel) and the 'next tune' button (on the starboard of same) at the same time for ten seconds will do it, I'll try this when make a stop. we pass into central time just after one... that hour we lost going from birmingham to tallahassee is now regained. I pull us over near remington at a "pilot" cuz where at the two hour mark, even though the first thirty minutes we were sitting in front of jordan's... everyone goes to piss (we don't need fuel for the boat) - I do too but in the jug and then I try what mike suggested and it works. that site ain't just full of shitheads, there's some happening cats there too, willing to help and not spread lies and hate - much respect to them.
back on the road to chi-town, we're now spieling about the new mssv tune "no words" and I bring up guitarman criag mcmullen when actually I was referencing curtis mayfield's guitarwork himself (mr mcmullen played for curtis and I always really dug his stuff - bassman lucky scott absolute!), it's some of the greatest stuff that curtis did one article on it here in 'premiere guitar') - d boon, a huge student of his but mr mcmullen also. maybe something to think about w/this tune? mike likes to work/develop his tunes w/us all the way to when chris schlarb hits the "record" button, capito? he's loose like that and I dig it, more natural w/letting the freak flag fly. I can't wait to see what happens. I can tell you this: he wrote me a bitchin bass part, love it!
over the state line and into illinois coming on two, real calm entry move w/the traff into chicago, crimony! usually it's a major hell and there is some of that but 'pert-near hardly considering the sitch. it's in the high forties but the sky really blue. we're in a part of town I ain't really been too much, called north town and the gig pad is the hideout which is the first time for me though bof mike and hodge has played here (hodge made a live album w/mavis staples even), the closest dock option for the boat's about a block away, next to astroturf athletic field w/young people doing prac, I drop anchor about twenty after two, yatta. hodge rambles to what he says stretch his legs, mike forages for our dinner... a cat w/his bass comes up to my open window (I'm chimping diary) and his name is ryan... I tell him what I know about how pickups work cuz he wants to know about the wattplower and for me to sign his bass which ain't a wattplower but he got it during a rehab adventure (829 days of no alcohol for me today, we're co-conspirators w/another thing besides bass!) and he's into mod stuff, turned this ibanez (?) five string from having a low b to now having a high which is like the last bass leo worked on for his fender company before selling it! he didn't know it had only fifteen frets (six less than a p or a j) though! he's very cool people and in fact helps find me the most bitchin parking by the gig pad, much respect to him! I've found lots of bass cats like to help each other out, might be the nature of the instrument cuz it's kind of like what you're doing in lots of band sitchs w/the music, aiding and abetting? hmm...
mike brings us happening chow from a re-purposed "fuckin gonuts" he thought called "jaimito's" and man, it's really simple and good tacos al pastor, love it. I talk to my brother justin - damn me for fucking our regular wednesday spiels up cuz of tour stuff - I should always make this happen, no matter what the sitch! only a short but still a good one, love my brother justin. we (mssv) then do photos w/barry and an interview w/rick for "forbes" by the boat. it's quick and happening, good questions from rick and and quick pics from barry who has me sign some prints he made from shots he took of porno for pyros when bof these cats saw the detroit gig of that tour. we do this right outside the boat, the boat even in some of the shots which I dig very much. I then go into the boat to konk.
I pop freezing, a chill way down to my bones... I gotta get into the gig pad and get this chill out of my core... I find a corner in the front room (there's a hatch to separate the bar from the music room) and chimp diary while my joints slowly warm up and I recover from the freeze-out bit by bit. I hear the openers, the mute duo and like them very much. our second time w/them, this time they actually are a duo, w/sam and skyler - last name time we were w/them (at "the empty bottle"), eli winter (he's here as a gig-goer tonight) was w/skyler and two others as a quartet - ain't that a trip? watt gets inspired hearing happening sounds and revived at the same time, thank you chicago!
we go on to a full house (gig is clean) at the scheduled nine and a half and it's what mike says later, our best gig of the tour. I like it a lot, am way into the respect from the chicago gig-goers and the good connect I had w/hodge and mike, love that feel from real connects, love it. this is a good room to pad to play from where I'm sitting (remember I'm sitting for these gigs, maybe my fourth tour now doing it this way?), I hope it is for the gig-goers too.
much much good word from the gig-goers as I pack up and after, I get a round II w/writerman rick and photographer barry - rick wants a story on my seventyfifth tour, no prob, I got seventytwo more in me! very kind of him, barry too, can't wait to see them bof again. I get some gifts like fanzine dedicated to "safari sam's" which was a club in orange country (so cal), yet another big anchor on a chain from my favorite rep for the decorator's union, a pop who brought his family I get to thank each including one w/an ig shirt - stooges! yes, "the weirdness" was recorded by steve albini here in this town, so sad we lost him not evan a year ago... steve was always so kind to me. john hanrahan gives me a big hug, love it - maybe we go to cuba to play some john coltrane music? now that would be a trip!
boat packed, we shove off for mute duo steel guitarman sam's pad, a refuge from this cold. mike's from west mass but he's been south of the mason-dixon for a while and cannot deal - it's hard on watt and his health also. I 'pert-near had to go back to the boat but sam came to his hatch in time and "sanctuary" is the best way for me to put it, thank so much brother sam!
thursday, april 17, 2025 - madison, wi
from mike:
Good talking with Sam
Talking Curtis with Kevin
Most sweat gig of tour
from hodge:
this was the sweatiest gig of the tour. so hot that the sweat was running into my eyes and causing real pain. plus the light person kept abruptly changing the lights. i found that i am very sensitive to this especially when playing complex material like we do in mssv. finally someone opened a door and the intense heat dissipated. for me this was i gig i was glad for it to be over with.
from watt:
pop at quarter of seven... actually an hour before got up to shut off the porch light cuz no windows at these pad for the living room which I love be this "lighthouse beacon" was kind in "interrogation mode" for watt on the mattress here. however, I got good konk which I needed, especially after that pre-gig freeze-out in the boat yesterday. update for the leash from apple to address "problems that may occur w/carplay connecting w/some vehicles" - crimony, the day after our trip w/that very sitch! on our own though we found the reach-around by using some internet sleuth-rock, correct? miss hiyori got some tamales from a tamale calle vendor yesterday and I have two that are very good. we got cats like this in pedro, also a lady on gaffey at seventh under a canopy w/sign saying "canasta" - very good. she alsohappening kutsushita ('socks' in jap) from _the hide out_ people... so trippy cuz the first thirtyfour years after coming from virginia to califorina I never wore socks, not even on tour in winter in europe. crimony. you change along your journey, correct? sam makes me up a couple of breakfast tacos w/his own version of refried beans which is most bitchin and I dig. him and mike have a great spiel about music and tour and overhear, love hearing cats into music and touring, always have!
we pull anchor at eleven, bye to sam 'til next time. there's some big wind on the interstate (I-90), drops of rain from time to time but always big winds but I always drive w/bof hands on the wheel ("ten and two" position), so the rudder's steady w/all I got. it's important to get everyone safe home when this tour's over. there's some fucked up driving (surprise!) I deal w/today, some really fucked up shit, also this one big rig stuff w/this same twisted-mind-apparently ego trip fucking w/everyone's life - this happens again and I'm getting the fuck way behind, I don't care but this "dick-extender strategy" some geniuses seemed driven (!) to employ is a pity-party I want to all costs not be a participant, no thank you. fuck you and your bullshit foisting fucked up things w/me and my friends. we have to share these roads safely, bottom line. I ain't ever below the speed limit unless there's an event calling for that to keep safe so it's your fucked up ego laming out everything so... ok, I got that out. at one and a half we cross into wisconsin (bye bye illinois) and I yank the boat over at the offramp where there's gas (at beloit) and get the boat filled at $2.80/gallon at a "pilot" w/big time wind and a little rain on us, no more blue sky. 58º f is what the boat's thermostat reads.
I get us into madison at ten of three and damn if the gig pad is like a couple blocks from the state capitol building... maybe a year old, it's called the gammaray bar and though mike says there's supposed to be a coned-off parking spot for us, there is none so I let him out to see what's up and drop anchor around the corner... soon he comes back w/the pad boss kevin and we proceed to have a real good time w/some real good spiel. kevin grew up in lawrence in kansas so knows all about that stuff which for me is real interesting and I know some of myself, like jayhawks and bushwackers - bleeding kansas w/civil war there before it was official in the rest of the country. kevin's pad is from 1882, crimony! so very happening him has having us aboard here. as hodge mike set up, I get in some hobblin over a few blocks and am 'pert-near blown over by the wind. crimony! need the motion w/my body though - missing the elliptical trainer at home. back at the gig pad (mike summoned me via leash), we check w/soundman steve, mike developing tunes two weeks from recording - love it, love the bravery - what's art in a person's life for anyway, correct? he's asking hodge to do a bunch but I believe hodge is up to and really break ground w/the stuff he's gonna bring for the record, I know he can do it and it's most happening of mike to encourage it, even kind of "using a crowbar" to pry it out of him. hodge can do it, bring this new way even though he's been doing this drum expression for so long in other ways, it's proof to me that I too can expand and bring on board new ways, it's inspiring big time.
I go to the boat and chimp diary, the wind buffeting the sides big time as I chimp diary and list to mr zizek, mike brings some happening carnitas burritos, tortillas remind of the "la parada" ones in indianapolis (doubled up too), I dig these tacos. I finish up chimping yesterday's stuff and get back into the gig pad to see the openers hottt probs and they got things going here, the gig's clean (sold out) and I feel good for kevin and his new pad. there's a good spirit w/this band that I feel kevin's got for this pad... they bof are beginning a journey? I got that feeling. bucky's new band _the mothballs_ are out, I get right up front, right to bucky's starboard. they're so new the drummerman was just brought on for the gig. I really dig what this proj bucky's got going, it's really interesting. now bucky's not from the real old days but he is from the older days and I love him bring where he's at now w/what he wants to bring. it makes me brave to take even more chances w/my own music. a music cat I believe is really fortunate to get it by another music cat bringing what they got as sort of a go for you letting your freak flag fly as wild as their doing w/there's - not the same way but in the same spirit, same momentum this kind of stuff resonating off each other.
our turn at ten and I take a cue from watching the other two acts we shared the stage w/get kind of balankie of blurry bottom so I use the broughton high pass filter on my tiny board to cut like a hundred hz or and also the hpf (where the lows start getting scisorred) on my bergantino forte hp amp... I can't tell you happening it is to have that flexibility in helping w/cleaning up muddy lows. one thing it doesn't help me out w/is my fucking keys getting caught in my fucking seat - I gotta move more to the end to help w/that but don't figure it out for a little while - sometimes watt's a slow learner, damn me. we have some probs we use teamwork to find solutions in the moment at tonight's show. I think it's still a good gig and like all tour, slowly we're working on our way to a more happening "final gig" for the tour which weill actually be the recording of the next mssv album at "big ego studio" which by the way has got some drama cuz of some ridiculous demands by the new owner on chris schlarb. some lawyer people are helping now mike has informed us. man, can you believe some humans? I think we can but it's just disappointing, you know? crimony. the real struggle is keep positive, even w/these difficulties. I kind of cussed some people out when a couple here tonight are your hammering over my soft part in our richard hell cover. haven't done that this tour but tonight I do which is a trip cuz one, there's another chamber up front that can yammer and two, most of the gig way most of the madison gig-goers are very kind and focused for us so that'sl a little frustrating. another weird thing for me is my giving a debriefing of a couple tunes w/hodge right on the stage! mike's in charge of debriefings and also the stage might not be the place to do it. I apologize big time to hodge after, damn me and crimony.
a lot of very kind gig-goers give me the good word - I meet a cat from peru and tell him d boon's dream (one of them) was for the minutemen to play more than north america but central and south america too. amor y bajo! jack brewer's cousin joe brewer (he wrote the lyrics to "please don't be gentle w/me") says hi - whoa, it's been a while since I've seen him... I've played poems of his he recited and recorded on cassettes he's sent me on my show and he says he can send me more after I ask him to cuz I feel they're great. a man brings his bass playing daughter to meet me, whoa. I meet several bass slingers every show, really dig that. shows community and I'm most grateful
boat packed, about to shove off... gig pad boss kevin says I can come back any time - we can talk more about dorothy and that movie and kansas, yes sir. we keep on keepin on. I get us to bucky and tui and they move a table in the living room for the air mattress, most kind. I'm so tuckered, I konk real quick. great people here in madison.
friday, april 18, 2025 - saint paul, mn
from mike:
Forgotten bottle
Found components at ax-man
Double benson gig
from hodge:
woke up at bucky's house i am in an old back porch that has been enclosed and it's a music room office. on a great air mattress that my kids bought me. it is raining and lightning and thundering like crazy. it's not the greatest weather for traveling in the car but i love thunder and rain. we have played the turf club before, it's a big long fairly wide venue. built way back in the 1930's or 40's classic workmanship especially behind and above the bar. very intricate and time consuming i am sure moldings and arches. we had a good set ... the folks really liked us clapped for a long time after we finished. signed a lot of records and one of my t shirts, the fella who bought the shirt had had me sign a shirt for him way back in 1997 when watt and i toured with joe baiza on watt's first opera. i was stoked to hear about it being a cool story from way back. had some serious conversations about the importance of music and it being a positive addiction. and at it's root being an art of working together with people, finding solutions together. those same folks helped to carry the drums to the boat/van. that really helps out!!! greg norton and charlie parr plus their fine fine drummer who's name escaped me opened the night's music. really really fine music, much respect! and before you know it we are off to an air b&b to konk for the night.
from watt:
pop at quarter of seven to thunder sounds and lightning flashing in the window, there's a storm. great coff here. I had a weird dream about a gig I'm gonna do... forever getting ready for this outdoor thing where there's buttloads of mud so I have to be careful hobbling and is seems I got four basses - why do I need four basses for this gig - why? I'm wondering about that in the dream, I'm wondering about that now that I'm awake. crimony. bucky gets ready for his teaching job and we pack that time in w/good spiel - I sure wish for that I could live in his madison town and have more spiels like this w/him. he is very interesting cat. we spiel about old punk, about me w/the plug in the jug about his new band the mothballs. my last words to him before he's off for his job teaching kids is that I can't wait for the next three tunes for our tone scientist proj - yeah. me and bucky are part of the recenttone scientist "kiiroi tori" five song twelve inch ep along w/johnny herndon (besidess a drummerman, the artist for the mssv "on and on" cover), vince meghrouni and peetzo. anyway, the next plan is for an album w/bucky, me and vince bringing three tunes each w/a sun ra cover and produced by johnny herndon. bye bye bucky, thanks again for being my friend.
I was big into the space race, being born in 1957 so seeing dr collier's video on a recent space mission got me to right away watch and, yes, absolute - thank you dr collier. jive shit should be called out, thank dr collier. I chimp diary to her spiel, taking pauses when my mind's blown and continuing as memory from the fucking very last day finally get pried out of my fucking confused rememberin box! crimony. tui comes down and it's 'pert-near pull anchor time but at least we can spiel a little... I had three hard boiled eggs miss hiyori made when bucky shoved off, had a great hose off after. the storm is gone and the sun is bright w/it not too cold, whoa - does it change quick out here... we thank tui for all the kindnee and bucky have shown us, digging her garden where the heirloom tomatoes were befre the critters she sad have moved in. they got a happening pad, loved getting to konk here.
I take us northwest towards the wisconsin dells, it starts gray but the rain holds off. mike's got his hood on, this cold is torturing him - his current life in florida has erased his west mass upbringing, I have to reiterate even though I know I've chimped this in this diary already! we full of fuel but full of piss too so ninety minutes into our journey I pull us off at a "road ranger" to leave evidence of mssv pissing there. not longer when back on the interstage do I a terrible thing by which I mean witnessing som selfish fuck w/racecar trailer who won't get out of the way of an ambulance w/lights and sirens blazing, maybe w/someone who's really hurt bad and needs help - this piece of shit in fact traps the rescue vehicle in between a fiftythree foot semi who's in the other lane being also a selfish asshole and not slowing down to make a gap to let this emergency ride pass, really heartbreaking what we're seeing here, up the freeway - of course I backed off in a way soon as I heard and saw in the rearview mirror the sitch and then finally as the scene got smaller cuz of the distance something broke something up to free away to let these helper cats through. really terrible display of bullshit - why stay in the fast lane and do that, did it gain more than a few seconds? what is w/some people about stuff like this? crimony. an hour or so more and the navigatore alerts to some kind of closure so gets us off at foster to use us-53 as a bypass, works real good. back on the interstate I got us just after two doing another piss stop at menominie which is right before the state line w/minnesota, crossing over the saint croix river just before three, bye bye wisconsin. it's a real easy in to saint paul (pays to get in early w/this "beating the rush" stuff) and damn if I ain't got us at the rear load hatch of the turf club in saint paul at quarter after... mike pickup up the chow he ordered after leaving menomine from the "on' kitchen" a few doors down from the gig pad... I have some green curry soup which is so fuckin good, love it! however, I have three "sessions" of blowing all that good chow out cuz my system wasn't used to it I guess... no pain or hurt, just a major "cleansing" kind of.
we check w/soundman mj and then I rap the openers which is guitarman charlie parr w/a rhythm section of greg norton on bass and drummerman billy dankirt - all great cats and of course greg is an old buddy since 1982 when me and d boon w/martin put out the first husker album land speed record and I'm way into seeing his new reverend guitars "bomb" bass, whoa!
I did chimp diary between my three blowout sessions (used a different head here at the turf club for each one!) but when I hear the gig begin I go into to witness and really dig what charlie's bringing w/greg and bily, it's really good - the close w/a long interpretation of "the lonesome death of hattie carroll" and thank them all three one at a time when they're done w/that, really got me ready even though the "subject matter" is pretty bleak - that tune as always be heavy on me since I heard it as a teenager. crimony.
our turn at nine and the saint paul gig-goers are very much here and w/us for the gig, very much. the way this gig-pad is, you're right w/them and I dig that. mike and hodge really bring it and all this plus right before w/the openers, well, it puts me in an emotional place but one that doesn't have me clamming (that much anyway) but it in a trippy state. I think about the people who can't be there - those I'd like to be here but it ain't the way things can be to let that happen. that's really trippy on me but I owe it to mike and hodge, the gig-goers here tonight in saint paul to keep it together and not get me fouled up even though this kind gives me a kind of "current" by which I mean what a wire wold do w/electricity, you know? it's an emotional gig for me, truly. something else. whoa. I dedicate the dick hell tune to grant, to gre and to bob... I'm thinking of d boon and georgie...
all done I spend much time w/good word form the gig-goers, repping w/each as I put my stuff up, lots of bassbrothers, long time gig-goers who've seen me in so many different ways of bringing it and that's ok w/them - very generous. people who've raised whole families in the time I've been doing this, so kind they are to still be interested and bring support. crimony. very genuine feelings they bring to me, I'm most grateful. this lasy stows my self when I finally get to the boat, still w/spiels w/all kinds of cats... always lots of warmness from twin cities people, let me tell you. there's a big man - bassbrother scott - he's huge but something happened near the end of the set and he went down, crimony. he got tup there - mike had stopped the set and I got scared but it's happening here to talk w/him about bass and even more, find out he's ok and in fact have just won a big war w/cancer... he gives me a little trip to go on my wattplower pickup selector switch, it's a minature version of stick shift knob, like you'd find in a car - love it! so kind of him. big hugs for him. well, I gotta protect my health and so have to wrap it up but if I don't wanna keep going, you know? I have one last rap w/bassbrother greg, right at the window we have a good time discussing black widow spiders and praying mantises, crimony! he's the best. big love to him.
good debrief from mike after we shove off, he likes what's happening and has also insights to get more on the new stuff for the coming recording: gig fiftythree. he also likes to hear what we're thinking and asks for it. the konk pad is one belonging to dina that old buddy kraig from the westies found for us in moments like a true brother, crimony that was happening - like other old buddy bucky coming through for us last night in madison - just like then w/one email, 'pert-near in moments. crimony! people ask me about what the old days were about and I tell them "people" and actually I actually what I think these days are about, "people" - same as it ever fuckin was! crimony. conrad is involved w/this pad somehow, conrad my old buddy who's been at the first avenue for so long, helped me so many times over and over, the most solid cat ever... I love him much. beautiful too is kraig and terry here to talk to me some but like w/bucky earlier this morning, not enough time really. I am tuckered and they gotta bail. I gotta have them both on my show and will.
saturday, april 19, 2025 - iowa city, ia
from mike:
Sam’s band, inspiring
I felt separate tonight, why?
No words: not happenin’
from hodge:
that darn dog ate my homework again...
from watt:
pop at quarter of seven. the coff is cartridge-syrup bullshit but that's the only think kind of lame about this pad, I fuckin dig it much and know it's why I konked in moments of kraig and terry bailing last night - a good serene spirit. great hose off and then the kitty - this kitty here is absolutely the most engaging kitty of the tour w/me, crimony is she something, all purs and pulling gentle on my chest w/her paws, very affectionate. I tell you. I chow two of the hardboiled eggs from yesterday at bucky's... one day old is the limit for me now, scotty-san called it "bac" which was short for "bacteria" and I have been poisoned that way before. the sun's out but the temps in the hight forties fahrenheit, yep. that's where we've been w/tour - in april too! well, I gotta say this coat my sister melinda made for me has really helped keep me warm - I never have it off 'per-near, never. there's bunches of squirrels hanging out in the back - they ain't afraid of me! I mean never get too close cuz they're wild and I gotta be careful but I do talk a little bit to some of them, calm-like and keeping distance... they have always trip on me - I did have a hamster as a boy I named "charlie" when I moved from navy housing to park western and I still remember the sound of him running on his little wheel, just wailing a way - his own little elliptical trainer? crimony. bye bye, little ones and bye bye to that little kitty, whoa, what a motor kitty w/those purrs. crimony. there were two guys w/watt tour shirts from twentysomething years ago that nanny had drawn my "man" (what I called the cat I had sixteen years from the the early 80s 'til brain cancer took him - he's on so much of my stuff, like on the back of the dost "justamente tres" album), miss him so much I could never get another one.
over the missiissippi river and then south on I-35 for a bit... I see we're at a quarter tank and cuz of past tour experiences, I never liked to go below a quarter tank so I have us take the lakeville offramp to a "speedway" and mike says it's the most expensive fill-up this tour cuz we're so far down and also $3.10/gallon but this boat gets twice the mileage of the old boat so there's no comparison to that, like ninety dollars a stop - this transit (old boat was a 2005 econoline e-350, ford stopped making econolines in 2014 so I had to get a transit) has good things about it, handles better also. back on the freeway, we're across the state line into iowa twenty of noon (bye bye minnesota), I blow by the the turnoff just past mason city we're supposed to use as we make our way to our next gig via the avenue of the saints so I bring her back around and get my shit together. it's four lane - I'm into it... at cedar falls I pull us over for a "kwik star" in cedar falls at two and a half - first roadside pad we've seen this whole way. four right on the nose we get into iowa city and are we lucky as fuck to get a spot right in front of the gig pad - now called "gabe's" but in the old days, "gabe's oasis" - a pad I played buttloads of times but it's been years since I was last played - maybe fifteen? I remember the stairs in the old days, crimony! there's big strong ones now but the soundlady crystal says even these were in bad shape... the ones I used even went up in another direction. man, was that scary way but mike decides we go up through the front entrance - a first for me. first though he gets us some real good tacos, we're back w/mexico after the short thai detour - love bof but get what my body's more used to? no blowouts today... soundcheck and then I konk hard in the boat, real hard.
my konk is so deep I miss bof openers sam locke-ward & the boo hoos who had his wife grace on drums which really really bums me out (damn me - mike later tells me "best band of the night!") and shining realm - our turn at ten but we're late... mike routs my konked ass up and there's more delay cuz hodge's rug wasn't spiked... in a way an uncomfortable gig for us but I still dug parts of it and I think we all three learned something we didn't know as well as before in some regards plus much kindness from iowa city gig-goers in the finish and though the fan blowing all loud wasn't quiet, they were big time for our quiet ones such as "boat song" and other stuff that had parts like that. much respect.
a great thing was finding out my old buddy ewolf from detroit - made the hellride here just to see me, very beautiful of him and beverly to do such a thing. he even schleps my speakerbox down all the front entrance stairs and does the w/stowing it along w/the amp purse and my bass, righteous! we all three talk about books, beverly wants to know about what I've just read and stuff like that - I don't know her recent books but she don't know (the only one she doesn't know), "the last samurai" by helen dewitt, hopes she reads it cuz I fuckin dug it. oh, there was a gig-goer talking to me about the stooges and madonna and it was a little confusing so I tried to make clear the two times we did stuff w/and for her, first time opening up at slane castle in ireland (she thanked us heading back to the dressing room area after playing) and second time performing two of her tunes in her honor when she got into the hall of lame - I met her in the kitchen of the waldorf in nyc for that one... you know, this stuff should be accurate if it's gonna be spoken of, correct?
we shove off for sam's pad and get the air mattress going in a space that seems 'pert-near made for us. even w/that hard konk earlier I konk again just like that. thank you so much sam, you're the man, truly. him and grace makes us feel way comfortable at home, very kind... a real good konk at their pad, real good.
sunday, april 20, 2025 - kansas city, mo
from mike:
Big rain this whole drive
Watt’s clave dream saves no words
Big rally tonight!
from hodge:
watt drove us thru hours and hours of heavy rain. amazing concentration! we got to kansas city and the rain stopped, lucky break so we could load in dry. if we had to load thru the rain we drove thru we would have been soaked. big bar concert room the record bar. mitch was our sound person. got a fine fine response from the kind folks of kanas city. when we work here we get to stay with george laughead in lawrence kansas. he always takes us to dinner around the corner from the club. really a treat!! artist and george's boyfriend ike was there too. always cool so see what ike is up to. we had a good gig made some major changes in two of the new songs, there at sound check. before we knew it we were in the boat heading for lawrence and george's house. i sleep in the drum room full of george's snare drum collection. i blow up my air mattress. and off to dreamland.
from watt:
pop at five and a half, piss in the most cleanest heads of the tour... sam soon pops, wishes me happy easter and cooks me up three easy over fried eggs (my favorite way: there's yoke in all three but not too much or runny), cut-up peppers, onions and potatoes w/bacon - it's real good chow and very kind of him. we start yammering about all kinds of stuff, spiels coming and going from all over... I love yammering w/sam and this makes me for a moment wish I lived in iowa city and not my pedro town. he had "valentina" chili salsa too, happening.
I never watch television on tour (mostly never at home either, gave that up years ago, maybe eight now w/cable?) but for sam... he has some app that's let him have us watch "svengoolie" which airs on saturday nights so why were doing a gig together, this went over the airwaves. the movie they featured was "it came from outer space" which was a real pile of shit which made it real fun to make fun of and so we had a good time. we watched the whole enchilada, crimony - I got to watch a whole movie like this via svengoolie w/sam locke-ward, most happening. a most happening way to spend easter and it was a good time. we pull anchor at ten and a half - the boat still safe but wet... there's a light rain - for now. bye bye sam, can't wait to bof see you and create w/you on another slw cc watt collab, this time w/grace back on drums.
as we get out of dodge, the rain starts getting heavier and heavier... so glad this new boat (well, newer - third tour for it now, it'll be two years I've had when august arrives) can handle better this rough weather than my previous boats (remember it's a tranist-150 cuz ford stopped making econolines in 2014), feels more "sure-footed" which I can need w/pendejos having no disregard in their selfish bullshit... west on I-80, another fucking race car trailer tagteam being a shit head w/fucked up dangerous doucheshit, why can't it be save for the racetrack? why? different sitchs call for different stuff, correct? that's as far as I'm going w/any "logic spiel" cuz I hate being the broken skipping record doing fuckin laps around my diary chimping. just damn all this stupid shit to hell, same w/big rigs acting like that, suvs, bmws, sedans, whatever - wise the fuck up, you pieces of whatever ain't healthy! halfway to des moines (where we get on I-35 to go south), I put us on the offramp to guernsey - whoa, that town name makes me think of these richard wrote for the boc:
she's as beautiful as a foot
she's as beautiful as a foot
she heard someone say
the other day
didn't believe it when he bit into her face
didn't believe it when he bit into her face
it tasted just like
a fallen arch...
don't put your tongue on the bloody tooth mark place
don't put your tongue on the bloody tooth mark place
her face changing now,
a guernsey cow
I love this tune and would play all the time as a teenager. mike fills the boat up (not once have I put gas in the boat on a mssv tour, I shit thee not) at a "pilot" for $2.96/gallon. no talking w/my sister melinda today cuz she's at a movie I find out after her telling me when I try to call. I let her know we're ok and tour goes good. she worries and I wanna relieve her of some of that. the rain gets heavier as we make our way south, two bells when we cross the border into missouri... the ford transit sync system radome plays give us "the prisoner" episode eight (but here known as episode five), "the schizoid man" - audio only which is good cuz anyone driving a vehicle while watching anything but the road is a big fuckin pendejo in my book. even though the rest of us in the boat for lots of times are hearing barely anything, I know these episodes so much from repeated views ad infinitum that I can kind of "narrate" for them what is going on. I have mp4 tiny movie versions of all seventeen episodes on the usb stick so I guess the ford sync audio reads them like they were mp3s and plays the audio... this is different than the way my ipod worked - you can actually watch on a little screen these bambinos.
finally into kansas city, the bullshit klown car ride goes 'pert-near all the way to the fuckin gig pad but I'm happy to report I dock us all alive at the record bar just after four. whew. we check w/soundman mitch, going over these two ideas - yeah, I space and forgot to chimp about what woke me this morning, prolly cuz I was rapping about sam... on my mind was these two new mssv tunes, "no words" and "see through you" that've been kind of tricky for us get together. we try some devices - the clave thing was really heavy on me as maybe some possibilities for the former - me and miss hiyori even got into it cuz she's a drummer so we get a metronome video going to help us w/discussing it. in the boat, when we began that rain drive, bof mike and hodge were into to this stuff and so now at the soundcheck we try them out, soundman mitch most patient as w/the openers dan jones and the squids who by the way has for a bassman the owner of this gig pad, steve! crimony. we do eventually get done and then I have a big spiel w/these guys about what I've learned about the kansas city and jazz, holy fuckin cow is it filled to the brim w/stuff about that! drummerman matt even knows frankie traumbauer's great grandson! I pack in as much as I can - they gotta check and doors are soon... I relent and go to the boat, mike brings me a steak george laughead has gotten me - I think the last time I chowed one of these was the last time he got me one in this town, crimony! there's a salad also that's got really good arugula lettuce that really feels good when I chow it. I then konk, that five and a half hour of "riding the storm out" tuckered watt out and not just figuratively, fucking wrung me out like a washcloth. damn me though cuz these are good cats.
mike rousts me for our nine and a half go... it's a good rally for the band, thank you much kansas city gig-goers for helping w/that but I gotta thank mike and hodge too for reaching deep down. mike especially was bummed by last night's gig and let us know it but no wallowing from him and instead he took (or takes) action tonight to address the issues that might've contributed to the hell. it's really easy to blame a sitch on everything but I think if you take responsibility for stuff that in all fair sense might be on your behalf then there's something you might be able to do about it. for example, it's was tough weather being dealt on us getting here, now do you think driving like a pendejo would've helped one iota w/that stuff? fuck no, it would've made things buttloads worse is my thinking! crimony. there was some feedback that was a little unnerving (later we find out in was some out of control bass bins) but not letting that be a springboard for freakout sugar bowl/teapot shit fit I think was the right move. some of the stuff that went good at souncheck for the two new tunes got spaced but I think not all the way so even some incremental progress there.
we finish and I get right away a lot of good word - I get this book from one cat, "running the light" by sam tallent and I'm curious to see what that's about. lots of kindness but not everything is good news... long long time support john (from the foolkiller days - place of minutemen's first kansas city gig) is here to tell me we lost his brother andy to cancer and it's hits me hard - I love andy much, him and john saw much here and then when andy moved to portland, or to be a fireman, I'd see him at my shows there. I know we all got shifts that are only song long but this is really intense on me. john tells me andy's still here w/us and I believe him. I'm doing the rest of the gigs of the tour for andy, every night... now I realize why last time I saw john he was crying and couldn't tell me why... crimony. big love to brother andy.
the boat gets my stuff packed in it by pad boss bernie who is righteous people and way into my outfit so when I quote from the show "questions are a burden to others; answers, a prison for oneself" he's even more than ready to take direction on how to stow the speakerbox, the amp purse and the bajo, beautiful man. pete and ann are here, how many times have they seen us on this tour? so very very kind of them, even offering a konk pad! big love to them but we already got the invite from george in lawrence so after many bye byes - kevin kelley has gotta go to the same place cuz he lives there, he's upset w/me telling mike about him spilling my eden amp setup at the hatch of the bottleneck - what I like more is him telling me he's got new music coming w/his buddy. one more spiel before I get out of the street and into the boat: pete and ann have seen mssv how many times? I love each and every time - they offer up a konk pad, seems there gonna help some music cats involved in an upcoming musical festival, much respect to them. pete gave me the bracelet-from-a-bike-spoke on my port wrist... how many years have I been never w/out it? crimony. I'm most grateful to him for his very genuine kindness.
'pert-near an hour to get to george's, he's got the space cleared in the living room for the air mattress cuz it ain't his first rodeo w/us. ikey's got some new "ragamuffyn" issues also, yatta! I hose off and get in my nightwear and konk quick after some spiel w/ikey cuz even w/the pre-gig konk, I am wore out big time. so glad to be safe here though, so glad... thinking of you, brother andy - big love to you and brother john.
monday, april 21, 2025 - omaha, ne
from mike:
Finally, new shoes here
Boat loses reverse! What’s up?
Tough sound, but good gig
from hodge:
got up to the smell of george cooking bacon, ended up that i cooked a dozen scrambled eggs. did i pretty good job, slowly is part of the key. plus we used come of the bacon grease left in the pan. lots of coffee. and then a load of laundry for me. hiyori did two loads .... always good feeling to do laundry! now we're in the boat on the way to omaha. bright and sunny day not a cloud in the sky.
the reverb lounge second time there for me. mix was pretty loud too loud for me takes away clarity when your in the thick of it that clarity is very important!!! sold another one of my t shirts... i usually sell one a night. boom boom we are loaded out and off to Fred Ensminger house. second time there for me. he has a lot of space we each get our own room.
from watt:
pop at six and a half and start chimping - that b.o.c. tune is still in my head! george cooks up scrambled eggs and bacon, I chow it outside the galley though, in the room where I konked and am now on the 'puter... I'm not so much into chowing w/cats I'm already spending buttloads of time w/even though I love them much... just found it a good tour device to keep the morale up. an outsider to this way of touring might trip on the but I've had fortytwo years of experience - of course fortytwo years of my way of doing it so I ain't trying to speak for anyone else... actually this is a good time to stress that my chimping in the diary is never about trying to speak for anyone except myself and even then I might fuck up w/that. my chimping diary does end up some kind of "document" I guess in some way but for sure in the moment I'm using it as acute therapy so I can try and keep shit together. I only wish I could've kept on since fortytwo years ago - I did try one that black flag/minutemen tour but that was really terrible and then I did try again for another fifteen years like a total baka, damn me. anyway - I can't change either that or any other past stuff so I just try and keep on keepin on w/the chimping now. lately I've been have some stuff in the background... professor tim makes I thinka good point about wannabe butch brainwash coming out the moufs of fuckin pieces of shit that are really unhealthy. bof my sisters melinda and marilyn are teachers, the idea of teacher having to have probs just cuz she's a woman? get me a fuckin shovel! ikey then speaks to me more about his "ragamuffyn" creations and why he keeps them off the internet: to prevent them getting kype via ai theft - fucking data scraping - that shit is real and fuckin big time dick leach stuff in my book. fucking bottom feeder parasite motherfuckers, think about it. kind of real low form of human existence, down there w/driving like a fucking pendejo, correct? it's prolly got a way of bumrushing music also, fucking nightmare. anyway, would did talking more to him about this - he's most kind to give me four (even though four's a scary number for watt) issues and tells me they're quite unique so very kind of him. miss hiyori gives the walnuts from charley to george... mike once cracked one by using two but damn if george and ikey can chow them w/a real nutcracker. I like the idea of george getting walnuts from charley too cuz I know george cares much about him and so do I. tomorrow I get to play charley's hometown for the first time in my life: wichita.
tonight though I gonna play in the state where d boon's pop danny was from. we got clear skies and low 70s fahreheit, weather to help our drive as opposed to yesterday which very much made our journey a challenge. we pull anchor a eleven and half, head west 'til we get to us-75... wait a minute, we needed gas so I pull us at a "loves" a half later, fuel the boat up for $2.98/gallon and fuckin go the wrong way so it's a sixteen mile fucking baka mile (eight miles wrong and eight miles back) before we head north, damn me. this ain't an interstate and there's some slow-go cuz who you might get behind - too curvy to make safe passes lots of the way - but the goal is to arrive alive so fuck it, we get there when we get there. I do pull us over at fairview to foul the facilities at what is a twofer "sunoco/a & w" - the latter slinging what might be "saucy nugg" competition, "sriracha cheese curds" - pondering such an important topic helps the dump fly out of me faster so that's a good thing, this brand new head is soiled the way it was meant to be which means not on the deck or the bulkhead but in the punchbowl... makes me feel bad about flushing the punchbowl but then I think of an email I recently got...
I get us to the benson part of omaha right before four (the boat's thermometer says 74º f - mike is happy, watt too!) and damn if the boat no longer has a functioning rear gear, I shit thee not!. I see this little wrench light up on the speedometer... I bring around the corner and look for a parking spot where no one could park in front so I wouldn't have to use reverse to get out (watt is freaked out a little, prolly mike too, I ask hodge to go around the block and enlighten him). I shut the boat down and then to check things out since so much 'puter stuff is involved w/today's vehicles, I kind of "reboot" the boat by starting it up and I find the little yellow wrench icon no longer lit up and also, I once again I had a reverse gear so I go around the block and park in front of the reverb lounge which is tonight's gig pad. I ask mike to find a ford dealership in omaha near fred's pad (we're konking at fred's tonight) so I can bring the boat in the morning to try and figure out what happened.
we soundcheck w/lottie who is most happening even though this is a challenging room w/its acoustics. on mike's word, we test out this drum scheme I've been thinking of even since my "iowa city clave dream" for new mssv tune "no words" which this time arounds has me focusing on the bass part mike wrote as a drum part itself that goes over two bar and so I ask hodge to split that up into three parts, first one w/an anchor on the bass' final note, second and third w/what are kind of "responses" to each bass couplets as "calls" w/mike liking it. ok, the sausage factory is swinging into action, literally. I'm into it. mike ordered us tacos for when we got here, I forgot to say I 'pert-near ran over the delivery cat when dropping anchor in front of the gig pad - this einstein very much standing in the street staring at his fuckin leash where only a horn blast wrestled some attention which kind of surprised cuz you could see how much in the grip of unreality he was being held. us humans, huh? crimony. I go to the boat to konk, even w/very nice weather I am too tuckered to hobble and I wanna play the best I can - I wrote bassbrother dereck about us being here tonight and wrote back so would he. crimony! I have big time respect for him, very much so kind of scary...
me konking like that means I again miss dan/steve/matt - I tried to pop but couldn't, same w/the john wolf's sons' band pagan athletes who I'm told played next - told by him while he was clearing the way through the crowd for me to hobble up on stage... what a fuckin not-enough-strength person, huh? I am so sorry and so grateful for john - being there for me in the old days, being here for me now... we bring the gig and I feel the rally from last night is still going though the last numbers are a little stressful for hodge though his spirit for hitting and missing w/the new way of "no words" is for me endearing, the next one "see thtough you" had me wanting so bad to lift out of this what seemed to be a "man-alone" catatonia that was resisting all life-preserver tosses at him I could muster... later in the boat he would tell us that period of the set he felt he was "his own worst enemy" and I could relate cuz there's been hell-shifts I've found I'd put myself through also, it's a fuckin nightmare and seems like a slow-drown w/no way out, terrible. all in all though I would call the gig happening, especially w/the support of the omaha gig-goers. I thought of d boon's pop cuz he was from nebraska and for some reason I thought (w/out thinking - does not make sense?) of pope francis who we just lost... danny boon was kind of a pop for me cuz he I spent much time seeing him at d boon's pad and my pop always being away cuz of the navy and stuff... being in nebraska always has me thinking of him and also I was thinking of the boat, can't help about that either.
the omaha (or I should say benson?) gig-goers here really cheer me up when we finish. whoa, here's bassbrother dereck, big hugs, big ones! you know, he was on my show (a second time also, can't wait for the next) and that's where I first go to know him and then I started watching his show and really got into him. we have a good spiel, as much as we can w/the time I got here - I tell him about my knees cuz he asked if I was in pain so I tell him I ain't in pain (zero pain, I swear) but was born w/bad knees and the surgeries I got in my early 20s wore out on the port one so I use a crutch now. it mean so much for him to be here to see me play - he's seen me years ago but to be "up to date" means lots to me as w/all gig-goers who support me cuz I don't wanna be known as just "someone from the old days" until I'm just that, "no longer in the present days" - does that make sense? if people like what I've brought them, I would be really happy if they still had it in them to see what I got now cuz they might be into it, might dig it even. I'm not trying to erase the past, no - as long as I'm alive I'm trying to add to it and that means not in "rerun mode" but in a "destination forward mode" if you can follow what I'm trying to say. I hope this makes sense cuz I feel really intense about this, it's a big reason why I keep doing music, keep touring as hard as I can. I wanna keep on keepin on...
I get to say bye to dan jones before w/shove off, so glad to be able to do these two gigs w/him, so glad. it's all about people, people. I take us over to fred's pad, mike's set up an appointment for me to take the boat in so I can't spend too much time w/fred, I gotta konk but we have some spiel about his health, my health and some stuff he listens to regarding music and car racing. we have a nice spiel and then I konk, this time making sure I don't lock him out of his head like I did like a fuckin idiot last time... so sorry for that, fred, damn me.
tuesday, april 22, 2025 - wichita, ks
from mike:
Boat software reset?
Schlarb is here, and David too!
Tough sound, but good gig
from hodge:
this venue was an amazing artist gallery and work space. it was stunning from the moment we walked in. Wichita State University there is a connection here david lord teaches at the university, he had many of his students there helping set up and working on the stage and sound gear. strength in numbers. they were at the boat/van to help carry gear. i tell you, that really helps out! all the drums go in the room in one fell swoop. opening up the night was mark unruh he was solo bass clarinet. he had his own monitor speaker and used an effects pedal board. sounded great in this giant concrete room. clarinet is in the woodwind family made of very dense hardwood. very expressive. we had a good set bit of a situation with the monitors chris was recording the show and he used two mics, one overhead and one bass drum neither of the mics were very close to the drums. this gets a much more realistic sound of the drums. close mics are fine for attack but something is lost with that closeness. chris really knows what he's doing we have made many records together. we hustled out after the show and once again the students were a big big help. we were concerned there was thunder and lightning approaching luckily it went around us, stayed dry...
from watt:
pop at twenty of seven... very happy to see fred's window full of sun like happening weather in my pedro town, good morning! twenty after seven I'm off in the boat "woodhouse ford omaha" and by quarter of I'm rapping w/the cat about what happened yesterday w/the "yellow wrench dash indicator on, reverse gear off" sitch. I give the llaves (watt's secret word for "keys" borrowed from the espanol-speaking people) and then go chimp diary in the customer area, applying earplugs and parking my culo near the popcorn machine to minimize severe fouling from the television bumrush. well, the ford man dealing w/me here who turns out to be a stickman w/a beat in his hand, derik, says during the checkout of the boat "a code" turned up but then could not be repeated so... yeah, like I told mike last night on the way to fred's to konk - we might find out nothing but I think that's better than not trying to find out and worrying about being lame about that - we did what we could and maybe it was a software thing that got solved by a reset or maybe it's a hardware thing meaning a part on its way to fail but nothing can be fixed now cuz nothing wrong can be found. stuff can be like that, correct? I mean "it works until it doesn't" is a reality that all the preventive stuff in the world can't override stuff not being a hundred percent fail-proof, just seems to be that way. that don't mean I ain't glad I went and did this, I'm very glad I did. I let mike know and ask for everyone to be ready to roll cuz his plan last night was to pull anchor and damn if I ain't gonna get back to fred's right around then. crimony. I find everyone w/their stuff when get to fred's (passing boy's town on the way, the actual one) and fred himself gives me a usb stick w/spiel shows of music man bob lefsetz and car racer man randy lanier for me to listen to, very kind of him - that on top of all the kindness he always brings... bye bye fred, hope your feet heal up good. he says his blood sugar stuff is improving also - I'm six months older so he's 'pert-near in the same boat, huh?
the navigatore puts on a route to wichita that starts the same route whence we came yesterday: via us-75. a lot easier going south it seems... along the way, we see signs about lewis and clark stuff but why is it just them two on the signs (let alone the "branding" label) and not sacagawea and york also? I mean, fucking crimony... have you read the actual story of this, the whole enchilada? how can they be scissored like that? well, lots of phony stuff, correct? I start thinking about humans and their phony shit, 'pert-near praying too it actually - that film spike made comes to mind, "being john malkovich" - man, did hi and charlie hit the nail right on the head w/that jive shit we really get ourselves into if we have the courage to look deep in the mirror and admit it, just really jive hankering - the wannabe shit that fouls so much of everything. of course in economic stuff but also in the way we treat (mistreat actually) each other and justify such bullshit. I don't mean "phony" in the a holden caufield way cuz I think he was projecting another fuckin weird version of the same fucking sick shit, maybe a "kettle calling the pot black" (or is it the other way around) cuz of the issues the cat who wrote it prolly had, I think we're all susceptible just like any other unhealthy pose we find ourself adopting, worshipping or whatever the fuck. it's greedy and fucked up - worse: jive, totally.
over the border and back into kansas at a quarter of noon, soon we're a fairview (again, remember yesterday) so I pull over and this time besides again fouling their pretty new facilities, we fuel up the boat at the "sunoco" for $2.82/gallon. now once we reach topeka, things go different than yesterday, we continue south (actually southwest) on the kansas turnpike towards wichita. two bells and I pull us over for a piss stop, we foul a "taco john's" at one of those "service oasis" dealios which pails in comparison to the fouling that jive poison-house is doing w/what they're foisting as south of the border tasting whatever. oh, the humanity. good place to load their facilities up w/dump and piss however, I have no complaints w/that, much gracias. I get us to this repurposed-into-an-art industrial area near the downtown wichita about a quarter of four and it's 82º f - the warmest we've had since florida. chris schlarb from long beach is here - he's gonna record our album the day after this tour's last gig, I guess he's involved w/some type of teaching event here. the people here at the fisch haus are very kind, the soundman david is also letting us konk at his pad, very kind of him. we check w/him and some students he's teaching and then I'm brought tacos from mike who says he got them at "playa azul" and I like them very much, taste good and haealthy. I then meet eric schmidt who shows me a guitar he built, pretty incredible I wish I could play these things better but the strings are so tiny for me, I ain't use to them at all. damn me. he tells me he's working on a bass also. a very interesting cat, we spiel about a bunch of stuff. I'd like to have him on my show. this is my first time ever in wichita and what I know about it is that it's where my friend charley plymell grew up so that's a big reason I'm glad I'm here. real neat to meet this artist eric who's here also.
now opening up formike unruh, on bass clarinet in man-alone mode but damn if I don't wake up in time - I was just tuckered and konked in the boat, damn me. mike rousts me for our eight pm start time and go then but there's technical probs - what the hell though, the wichita gig-goers are most kind to let us just plow on, just like groping in the bathhouse when the power goes out but you know what? we bring what we can and I think we did pretty good and it was truly an honor to play for these cats and especially me finally playing somewhere for some reason I think I should've played way before... I get that feeling lots of times when this happens, like "where the fuck have I been?" which might seems like a trip cuz I've done so many tours which means a lot of pads and towns (and even lands) to play but damn if there's always ones you've missed or it's been a buttload of years since the last time. crimony, I wish so much I could gig everywhere somehow, damn wouldn't that be something? I feel that way cuz I believe every town, every pad and every gig has something it can teach me so if I find missing myself missing out on that opportunity, I feel like I'm missing out on learning something important. by the way, hodge got all the snare hits on "no words" - very fuckin one. he might've rushed the hat some but he got every single snare in there, much respect! thought of charley the whole gig, kansas city john and his brother andy also... great inspirations for me: everyone here on stage, off the stage, in my head - everyone in wichita at this moment w/watt...
I have a good time rapping w/the wichita gig-goers after, this guitarlady helps stow myself after eric (met him earlier) helps w/getting the speakerbox off the stage. you know, everyone is blown away how bof that speakerbox and amp in its amp purse can be so light and tiny after hearing/feeling what I just brought using them at the gig, every fuckin night I get told this. crimony. I can't thank jim enough. also nathan w/his compressor box and ken/joe w/their wattplower - just saying and not try to foist anything. seems like lots of what I've learned has added up to go w/this material stuff like kind of a "dance team" or whatever, you know? it's a trip and of course I deal w/whatever I got to work w/cuz I jam econo - learned to live by that w/d boon and georgie, cats who always brought "what was them" w/whatever the sitch allowed but I get asked all about this stuff that seems like a surprise to lots of cats who get I think bombarded but only certain stuff that can "deliver the good time" and I've found that ain't true, just is kind of some kind of too-much materialistic solution which to me is a more creative stich, how to use "stuff" that you find helping you w/that expression mission, capito?
I get us to david's and it's prolly the best hosing off I've had all tour cuz I really really felt I needed to have it, really was feeling it bad. crimony. all hosed off and kirei ('clean' in jap), I feel real good in my nightwear and ready for konk - I drink a topo-chico alone and I can hear chris schlarb w/mike about drama w/his studio (some pendejo really being an asshole) but I just ain't got it in me to be there w/them and deal w/a reality I have to face: I'm am tuckered. no alcohol after a gig these days really makes that easy I think cuz it used to be kind of fuel to rev my shit up, crimony. better w/where I'm at now... I konk so easy - very happening, very fucking happening for me, I'm most grateful.
wednesday, april 23, 2025 - eureka springs, ar
from mike:
Earplugs save my sleep
dinner here is like my home
Tough sound, but good gig
from hodge:
woke up at david lord's house also staying at david's was chris schlarb our buddy and studio owner of "big ego" recorders in north long beach california. he recorded our set last night, but he is mainly in town to do a week residency there at the college where david also works. chris was making a good looking breakfast when we met up in the kitchen 7:30 am. chris will be the one who records our new record when this tour is done. may 3rd is our last gig, may 4th & 5th we record the new record there at his studio in long beach, ca. "big ego".
after a lot of winding country roads we got to our venue for the night. chelsea's in eureka springs, ar this is a very hilly small sort of wonderland of a town. kind of a cramped new orleans. the opening band were the kids of the folks who made our dinner good food and the band was really good too. great to have some young faces in the crowd. like i have mentioned before, we only see youth once in awhile.
from watt:
pop at six and a half. check email and read one from pete who was a the kansas city gig (he gave me that bicycle spoke bracelet I wear on my port wrist so many years ago) that offers up a konk pad, so very generous of him - he also turns me on to this happening bass cat craig akin which I am getting into now, big respect! so glad to know pete and ann, great people. sometimes you get the most happening emails!
chris schlarb cooks me up three fried eggs over easy and puts spinach leaves alongside them on a plate, very good chow for me and I'm most grateful for his kindness. later I visit him w/hodge and mike in dave's living room, actually to nag hodge about getting behind w/the diary and I bring up the fuckin nightmare iowa city gig... mike makes a good point about that "having to happen" in order for me to have "the clave dream" later that night the was there w/me when I popped in the morning w/a suggest for a new approach to the "no words" mssv new tune he's been wrestling w/and damn if that don't add up in a good way despite the hell we had to endure... ain't that a trip? I think it is and it'd be a denial of truth in a way on that perspective on trying to get a handle on how some stuff just comes to be.
big thank you to dave and a big see you again to chris, we pull anchor at eleven and make our way east on us-400, going through what might seem like stip-mall land in so cal but here we are in kansas' biggest city. crimony. you wanna talk about some monoculture in effect?! finally that stuff peters out and it's open land big time. a little after twelve and a half I get us off at fredonia (I find out there also a kansas one, I thought there was only one in new york state and one in that "duck soup" marx brothers movie but actually there's several, slow learner watt. mike fuels up the boat here at a "phillips 66" (part of the "pete's" empire we find out by seeing many here in kansas) for $2.95/gallon. hodge does a good job on the windshield w/the squeegee work, really helps cuz the bugs are starting to pile up as the temp warms. back on the road, mike reads off something of the internet via his leash about charlie mingus getting scissored by duke ellington which I had read about in a couple of these bebopper bios (including the one by mr mingus!)... we have some good spiels about stuff mike finds via his leash after something comes up ans we're rolling and he can find other's spiels via the net, for example yesterday about hiawatha yesterday when we saw a town called that, trippy how stuff informs other stuff - tour can have lots of dimensions to it, correct? the reductionist view of such an endeavor is really cheating some opportunities, correct? ten after two we cross the state line into missouri, soon I get us off for a piss top at a "casey's general store" in sarcoxie just before three... damn if an open hatch on the boat let's in a giant wasp! I get out as fast as safely possible, pecan log having been shat. crimony! it does fly out w/out singing me though, very grateful watt back in the boat w/the window up. we've been off us-400 and it's little road time, really getting little after crossing into arkansas a quarter after four. the weather stays nice though and I go as safe as the boat can take roads I've never been on before, roads w/names like "f" and "p" - we're in the ozarks which ain't big moutains but there are hills and winding stuff. we go by campsites and stuff, eureka springs is this place that has a very interesting history, I mean, whoa... very pad's got "interesting history" but I'd love to spend some time to study what's gone on in these parts, what's going on now. I can't thank karen and steve-o enough for making this gig happen and making me aware of this place. I improvise getting to the gig pad cuz the navigatore gave some suck-ass suggest, having us try to go up a twenty percent or something grade? fuck that. I get us safe and docked at the gig pad chelsea's corner cafe & bar twenty minutes before the four pm load-in time, steve-o (owned the buc in memphis) there to greet us, him and karen (sister of my dear friend doug rockett) moved here to eureka springs a few years ago and was the connect for mike to book this gig. it's sunny and nice, 78º f... while the rest of us load-in our stuff, I call my brother justin in fresno using facetime, great to speak w/him now regular again. turns out he's played this pad we're doing in bakersfield, jerry's pizza - oh, that's right... there's been a change in our tour cuz the original gig for bakersfield fell through, glad to let everyone know now! crimony.
the opening band _the shiny object_ drummerman oen's ma connie makes me up a caesar salad w/big a chunk of salad in it is so good, I love it. I stay in the boat cuz I'm scared of all the hills, too dangerous for me w/this kaput knee, correct? the worse for me and the tour would be to fall, worse thing or maybe really bad thing cuz anyone one of us four getting hurt would be bad thing. I chimp diary and then konk.
mike rousts me for the ten pm go-time and helps me navigate slowly my way in and to the stage - my first experience of the gig pad and it's trippy: olde-timey and many levels. I did no soundcheck so the first tune is my first experience and except for at first having mike's guitar in full-on blast mode in the monitors, it's sounds pretty good in here, really kind of good and I dig it. our gigs got clams but it's got happening parts I'm digging - there's some very kind stuff said during the gig let alone after but I will say there was some challenges cuz of yammering by those who had nothing to do w/anything other than this is where they always go and we just happened to have driven a buttload of miles to interrupt their very important conversations and heartfelt expressions. their can be friction and I lost some cool and brought some suggests in the dick hell tune when I felt a little steamrolled by what seemed their parallel universe. like I ain't been through this before. it's on me, now think that I'm thinking about it, reflecting on it. I'm better third verse and just the spiel tiny. hell, mike scissored "boat song" all the way cuz of his frustration... but don't get us wrong - lots of beautiful cats here, much respect to them. I talk to many after, many.
karen gets in the boat w/us, taking mike's seat - he moves to the back... she guides us to the konk pad, really really close. crimony. next to the room w/all steve-o's guitars... he show's me the repaired w/biscuits (by an old luthier who lives close by) flying v from reeves gabrels, someone I've also met that I dig also, much respect to him. steve-o engages in much spiel, I space on hosing off, damn me! I gotta konk for my health so get into my nightwear and pull the plug on my mouf and am soon out, safe in a pad yet again cuz of steve-o and karen... I think of brother doug.
thursday, april 24, 2025 - tulsa, ok
from mike:
Curved roads outta town
Inside windshield coffee spray
Good gig, with good sound!
from hodge:
we had one of the best sound men of the whole tour!!!! sound check went fast and the monitors were squared away in record time. and when we came back to play our set nothing had changed it was excellent. we were stoked with him and after the show he was stoked with us. fat dracula was the opening band husband and wife duo. really interesting and powerful, great band!!
from watt:
pop at five, then konk and pop again at quarter of eight. for some reason, I thought the head was upstairs so when I slowly made my way up for what seems a mandatory at my point in my journey, my middle-of-the-night-piss I think I scared the shit out of steve-o cuz he asked who the fuck was the stumblebum making strange baby ghost from the 1900s drag your chain away noises and I let him he know I'm on a quest for the head and he enlightens me to the fact there's one right near where I was fuckin konked and kindly leads back down and to it. crimony am I baka and big time got that wrong... another senior moment? false memory? just getting shit fucking wrong? anyway, back to where I was, after popping for sure, I get the news out about tonight's mssv gig in tulsa - that's very important. steve-o pops and aids w/the coff via a machine that does a cup at a time, again most kind of him... we then spiel lots, buttloads! about the cap'n - I tell him to get the mike barnes book on him and then we ge into b.o.c. (steve-o tells me about getting to play guitar w/original b.o.c. drummerman albert bouchard's brain surgeons for a couple of gigs). I wish I could go on cuz we sure did but... there's a chow pad nearby him and karen order me some that tasted good going down but it'd blow it out of me in a torrent later in tulsa but that ain't their fault and I'm so glad I got to spend some time w/them... karen's got a wattplower bass and we talk some about bass - she's recovering from a broken wrist and so I talk to her about how I've changed the way I've played since I've started and I'm still adjusting to the journey... I show here how now I mostly don't use my thumb to anchor my plucking hand and instead let my thumb kind of "float" and follow the other fingers of my hand that are doing the plucking, I've learned how far to keep my away from the strings so only the parts that need to mostly touch the strings. there's lots of stuff w/this mssv music where I touch really light also, I adapt not to just now but also to the tune and even the part in the tune - there is no "one size fits all" for me w/my plucking hand stuff, just ain't and that's important cuz pain will stop you - I'm convinced of that. you must swerve to avoid when it comes to pain and not "try to play through it" cuz experience has taught me that's not healthy, it's fucked up as far as I'm concerned, just is. this ain't about "building up strength" in my thinking, it's about adapting to where your body's at.
we gotta pull anchor at eleven, the weather is calm and mild. bye bye to steve-o and karen... what ain't calm is first the ride on the two-lane road w/assholes tailgating w/the tight corners on a road I've never been on before - even though I obeyed every mph sign posted - you think it's the "law and order people" being real pendejos, one douche passes on a double line, hail citizen! just missed witnessing a nightmare. we finally get to us-412 and the other "not calm" thing is the "stripmall land" between fayetteville and springdale (just after noon, we fuel up at a "maverik" in springfield for $3.00/gallon) you wouldn't believe how much this is like congested so cal (for example but actually all over the place I have to admit), plug after plug, just really bad stuff here in the ozarks. one my clams - not intentional but an "air biscuit" or whatever waylaid a coff chug from me and the result was a hose down of the entire part of the boat in front of me w/that chug's contents of coff, total hosed down of dash and inside of windshield, damn me. maybe paper towels are required for the toweling down of it but slowly but surely, that fouling is healed. as far as the traff stau und plug: well, it calms off once we hit the state line w/oklahoma (ten after one) and I get us on the cherokee turnpike which is way way more flow, we get into tulsa at two and a half and drop anchor at the gig pad the shrine venue not much after that, so good get done w/the daily hellride early, correct? love it. mike brings us tacos that are real good. after I hobble around a bunch of blocks to get myself exercised some, I'm really really careful though of course, got to be but gotta do some stuff.
gig boss donny arrives and opens up the gig pad at five and we load-in. donny's very cool to me and tells me lots about his music adventures, interesting and his way makes me happy. soundman alex is happening too and we check w/him, have a good time. this drummerman who also does bass talks to me right after cuz he says he can't be at the gig but we get to spieling about stuff, starting off /w/his seabee hat... I talk about to him about my pop inspired me about seeing stuff cuz of how they navy took to him places he told me of. I tell him how I dug growing up w/all kinds of different cats in navy housing, not officers kids but lots of other enlisted kids, really dug that when I look back how that help me how I am now. dave and chris of fat dracula arrive and it's good to see dave again - me him in person last summer at a missingmen gig in santa monica. kris I know from them bof being on my show around seven months ago. I go to the boat and konk after welcoming them.
I get rousted out of my konk by sounds coming through the boat's bulkheads from the gig pad... I hobble in and get up to the front of stage to see kris and dave bring their _fat dracula_ band and I'm digging it: drums and bass w/bof of them singing. lots of a little tunes w/lots of spiel - not in front of every tune but lots of them. it's not important I mention that, what I did it is the "dialogue" they get going between the bof of them musically. I can't even tell what the tune is about even if the spiel in front of it (if it's there), I don't let that keep me from experiencing it like when I saw a gig in the old days, going up to see punk in hollywood in the late 70s and letting it be itself on me w/no expectations cuz I dug that feel of that happening to me. I enjoy their set much.
our turn next, right on time at nine bells. really generous big time focus from the tulsa gig-goers right from our first sounds, even w/my clamming the "on and on" intro cuz I misread the preceding improv (damn me), maybe they thought it was meant to be? might never know but I'm thinking this sure will be discussed in the boat during the debriefing and this ain't a bad thing, it helps me put resolve into getting it more together for tune two although I think there was a little clam from me at the beginning of that one ("hypocrite"), it'd be hypocritical not to admit that, correct? the gig goes good though, it's a good time playing at this pad for these cats and I think one of the best gigs of the tour. we still gotta iron stuff out, things developing but I wonder how much of real life ain't also a fuckin "petri dish" and how much is the fucking "carved in rock" stuff, huh? you could hear a tick eyelash hit the deck for "boat song" I shit thee, not. much respect to the tulsa gig-goers, truly. after we finish this gig I have big time spiels w/many them and I think part of that is cuz of not playing here in such a long time, damn me for that. the gig boss donny wheels my stuff to the boat, much respect. brother alex was excellent fourth member of the band. love the spirit here tonight in tulsa!
john of the earslips comes up to the boat window and raps w/me a good while about all kinds of stuff, I could rap this man forever, like steve-o this morning, huh?! music does this to people, I've found - I know it's done it for me... then d boon got me into history and I found myself getting wrapped up in that stuff like that also! trippy about life... anyway, john has really got a feel for music I dig and can't wait to have him on my show soon as I can make that happen. I rap w/some others, kind of a "spiel portal," this window for me sitting at the boat's wheel, belted up even but I feel safe here while at the same time not freezing people out, you know? same reason I always carry a marker on me so I don't let anyone down - I wanna show them my gratitude for all the support from all the gig-goers through all the years. there was a time I got weirded out hear stories about when people saw me in the past but I grew out of that stupid way of acting, I let people relate those spiels now w/out interrupting them, another way of showing them I'm most grateful cuz I truly am.
we go over to kris and dave's pad which ain't too far - there's a trippy thing all lit up near them, the route 66 historical village... lots of the old us-66 was what's now I-44 and I-40, the main way of getting from chicago to los angeles. we find their pad and they are most kind to us, I hose off and meet their two cats - there's also a very friendly little dog. the room where the air mattress is put is very interesting, I dig it much! I am too tuckered to spiel though and must konk but konk really happy I got to play tulsa again and the good people in _fat dracula_ and at _the shrine_ plus made that happen. I get asked about the old days and I tell them it was about people... I think the new days are about the same thing: people.
friday, april 25, 2025 - amarillo, tx
from mike:
Thanks Fat Drac! Sweet cats.
Good to be back, plus Dudeman!
Tornado sirens
from hodge:
we had one of the longest drives of the tour today. watt brought us thru in fantastic shape as usual. golden light cantina is our venue tonight. we have been here at least once before. dudeman is the opener. they opened last time as well, they rock!!! tonight we stay in an air bnb. today we had our usual tacos for dinner, and the owner of the bar had made salsa green and red. i had the green it was awesome lots of flavor just enough hot a real treat!!!
opening band was DudeMan... really like this band, really nice guys and they have a beautiful sound. DudeMan leads the band wish i knew his name, dang! we talked a lot he really loved our set. said; "we were the soundtrack of his life." wow!!!! we had a strong set and when we finished we found out that there were tornado warnings. rain was pouring down big time. we slowly drove thru the sheets of rain to our air bnb. thunder and lightning was constant. it was mother nature at her a pretty mighty show. you get soaked pretty fast just getting in the house.
from watt:
pop at five and a quarter, then seven - you know the drill. I chimp diary after much email catch-up... I've been away from my pedro town a while now (six weeks) so damn has shit piled up on me, don't wanna let anyone down. when dave and kris get up I rap w/them about "the sand pebbles" (the film too though I hate how hollywood changed the ending but love steve mcqueen - it was me and d boon's favorite movie as a boy) of course cuz I got that in common w/dave via email w/him relating stuff about mr mckenna's work - he gives me the u.s. navy bio on him (I found a 1948 piece by him at the u.s. naval institute here) which I put on the dash of the boat next to the one charley gave me when I visited him earlier this tour in cherry valley, ny which is very kind of him - bof kris and him are just the best... I wish I could spiel more and more w/them but mike says it's pull-anchor time (eleven bells), I gotta bail...
southeast on I-44 w/good weather, there's som plug getting on the I-40 but what to do but hurry up and wait, correct? at noon I get us off in western oklahoma city at a "casey's general store" so mike can gas the boat up at $2.44/gallon. back on the freeway, I see grain elevators and ask mike if he knows about the grange movement and it kind of trips me out that he doesn't. you know, there's buttloads of stuff he knows that I don't so I hope it don't seem he's ignorant cuz he ain't. actually, seems he's way into knowing about this grange stuff - he says he knows of "grange halls" cuz of gigs at them so that's something. kind of a union for farmers in a way. it's not gone either, still going after a hundred fifty years plus, much respect.
for the two hour piss stop trip, at two and a quarter of two I get us off a "flying mascis" in sayre, three towns east of texas, I hobble a loop around to get some exercise in, seeing the ground pretty level and safe for my sitch. just after two and a half it's bye bye to oklahoma - we're back for the fifth texas gig of the tour, third time at the golden light cantina, I get us in the back at four and a half and unload (watt actually helps w/the schlep) while mike gets us tacos from really close cuz the weather is a weird trippy calm... I can tell something's up and the gig boss wade tells me we should watch out. he gives me two jars (rojo and verde) of his own salsa, can't wait to chow it back home - he boiled and sterilized the stuff so it'll keep if I don't open the jars so I wait... can't wait, thank you brother wade! we check w/soundlady ana who's got her own band (gardens grove) and also plays w/toolie - toolie's a bud of my amarillo bud skitz o'fuel - we have a real good spiel catching up, much respect to him, truly. toolie's real good people.
sharing the stage w/us is who was here last time we were here, dude-man and I get a stool parked right in front of them. love this band and for sure for me the best band we've been w/the whole tour and there's been some happening bands, believe you me. I love this band and they blow me away again, crimony. I truly wish I either lived in amarillo or they lived in so cal in order for me to able to catch every one of their gigs... I bet these cats are never the same. front man elton told me they recorded recently like twenty tunes and he's got buttloads more - somebody's gotta release this stuff, somehow something's gotta happen so they can bring they thing to gig-goers all over so minds can be fully blown. I ain't been this inspired by a band since... since the first time I seen them - this is the second time. crimony! man, how I wish I knew the other cats in the band's names cuz they are so happening: other guitarman plays leads that go good and tailored to the tune they're in and drummie has got such a fuckin happening feel, love it. I get to rap w/the bassie for a while, really dig his thing and was studying on it even during their set. I fuck up while trying to bring up a texas bassman I've learned so much from: dusty hill - I fucking call him dusty rhodes, the wrasler! I liked him too but actually my favorite texas wrasler was terry funk - bassie here is most kind to me though and says he knew who I was talking about, much respect to him. oh, we started our spiel off w/some ohm's law rap, fuckin right on. cuz of my pop's last name which happens to be mine also and his... (watt).
our turn at ten and there's tough parts but I'll tell you what: "boat song" really did a number on the amarillo gig-goers, it just did what it did and for me it was amazing to part of, made me feel part of the amarillo gig-goers plus elton from dude-man who said after we closed it: "hypnotic" and that really really helped us finish strong, I feel. I believe one of the kindest thing a music cat can do for another one is get them lit, I swear to you that's what I belive... thank you so much, brother elton.
much kindness from everyone as I get my stuff together - the weather real real quick now is going into crazy-ass mode... I gotta get up in the wheelhouse quick cuz my health and getting soaked 'pert-near for certain will end up not happening. much respect to miss hiyori, hodge and mike getting the boat ready to bolt cuz the fuckin sky just came down w/insane lightning and thunder, 'pert-near sideways rain filling the streets so big time I gotta drive in the middle of the road. we're really fortunate mike got us a konk pad only a couple miles away but it's a slow dangerous go... brother wade at the gig pad told us tornado danger and damn if the sirens for the stuff start going off. we find the konk pad (bb kind) and get in safe. fuck. that was... you can imagine. I am most grateful us all four can konk here safe, most grateful though even w/all this scary stuff I'm also grateful to have gotten to again share the stage w/dude-man. much respect.
saturday, april 26, 2025 - santa fe, nm
from mike:
We survived the night
Calm drive, back to higher grounds
Ben! Carlos! Jeremy!
from hodge:
woke up at our air bnb. we always get our own rooms in this situation. we stay in these perhaps once or twice a tour. good coffee machine and great shower, i could open the window in my room, love that! fresh air what a joy... we are heading for santa fe new mexico today. the weather is peaceful high white clouds no rain bright sunlight. david lynch came up out of the blue on youtube. made me cry... you always think you will have another chance to work with people you love. but life doesn't really work that way. at least in my experience. you gotta move in like there is no tomorrow.
got to cocoon around 4pm met tall mike the man who runs the place. prior to it being a studio and a concert place, it was a mortuary and the a weed growing house no wonder it had super duper electric wires and couplers from the power poles. there were several rooms inside this place. we were the last of 4 bands who played. i loaned one drummer my 24' ride cymbal they had a really cool hypnotic sound interesting to hear that cymbal from the audience. i liked the sound of the room we only miced the bass drum. we packed it all up and we were on our way to jeremy's place way way out in the hills. really nice studio/home. we all got our own rooms. very comfortable...
from watt:
pop at eight and half, whoa... really tuckered watt, huh? I hose off and they got a washer/dryer here so clean outfit for watt. I get the tour info blowout going, catch-up on email as much as possible and then chimp diary - a regimen for tour that helps me keep it together w/the focus and for the tour. I can't say it's for everyone but it's good for watt for this endeavor.
we pull anchor at eleen and you can't even tell it was a wild-ass crazy fuckin scary storm last night. crimony. sky 'pert-near all the way blue and 64º f and we say bye bye to amarillo 'til the next time. west on I-40, real soon we pass the cadillac ranch and are on the way to new mexico... at one we're over the state line and also get back an hour that we lost when we came across going the other way (west to east)... it's twelve and a half now when I get us off at tucumcari to fuel the boat at a "loves" for $2.84/gallon. mike hips me the fact that "tucumcari" might be comanche for "ambush" which is a trip... I've just always dug the sound of it. another part of this road in new mexico I always think of is a pad 'pert-near a ghost town called cuervo and I pull us over for a drive-through twenty of one. still some pads wrecked especially wood ones but the adobe ones that were kind of "melting" into the earth are gone. there's new roofs on some pads... I think change is gonna come here. back on the road, we get off at us-285 north (right where the bullshit-slingers "cline corners" is - stopped there once only and that's cuz I was on tour w/nels cline and we wanted to see what was at somewhere sharing his family name, it was fucking lame - not his fault!) to take that to santa fe. there's clouds but the weather's holding us and the temp is mild, lucky us. the gig pad is called cocoon and the boss michael is very cool people, I like him much and it's honor to be at his space. I'm embarrassed to tell him the last time I played santa fe was in 2013. crimony. that's terrible. I'm so sorry, I apologize to him for that.
mike gets us tacos from somewhere near (we're kind of in the midtown michael tells me) and I then meet some of the musicians we're playing w/but I don't know exactly who's w/who though everyone's most kind to me... I hear a band check, I meet their drummerman who's named justin and I really like the way he plays... I ask him if he's into jaki and he is, much respect! he's in the band disco dial and I look forward to their gig, actually all the bands - I meet the bassman luke from _ghost ranch dressing_ and he's got such a great spirit, talking to me about mixing skateboard w/music and I've always been into that. what a happening spirit luke has, love it. the band before us will be ethan campa + carlos santistevan and I get to talk w/carlos some, very interesting cat and I wish I had more time to spend w/him. mike told me a little about him... I feel very honored to share a stage w/him and it seems he really gets stuff going, damn I wish I had more time w/him - all these cats here really interest me, I'm thinking santa fe might really having a happening scene, yes! so glad mike bof got me here again and part of this which reminds of why I got involved w/the movement way back in the first place.
my old friend bob-san arrives from placitas where he lives which is about halfway from here to 'burque... so glad to see him again - he was a the 'burque gigs earlier in this tour but I always look forward when I can be in person w/him. he brings me hashi he got when I donated mine, good ones that I'm most grateful for and we have a real good spiel catching up, he's always most interested in my music. I hear all three bands w/us tonight, I never go to the boat and enjoy all of them, each w/their own trip. mike told me david was a standup player but he brought an electric bass tonight and works it very well, him and the drummerman ethan really bring it - I talk to ethan after and he says he was thinking of cedric's drumming on the anywhere album I did w/him, bof of us part of the guitarman (who's actually a drummerman himself) christian. trippy, I haven't thought of that proj in a while - I tell him I really dug the drumming cedri did, blew me away when I found out it was him.
we go on a few minutes ahead of our nine pm go-time which is so kind of everyone performing tonight thinking of us like that. we have a good gig and try some new things, one of which is a whole new approach to new tune "no words" which mike really thinks is the way it's gonna finally develop - our "boat song" kind of informs it, sort of a result of last night - ain't that a trip? mike's really open about his music, really is. I left the hooker's green bass machine on for the whole tune instead of the 'b' parts for "see through you" - oops but maybe it's a good thing? I'll ask mike in the debriefing. the santa fe gig-goers are really kind to us.
right when we get done, I get the good word from those here, so kind. jeremy and heather are here, they came up from 'burque, much respect to them. one gig-goer brought his son, a bunch of bassbrothers talk w/me, all kinds of people, whoa. a man named mike helps me w/my stuff and getting it to and in the boat. adam harvey's here too and shows me the collab w/his voice and animation along w/music from me and nels and I think we're gonna do more, can't wait. so many happening people here in santa fe tonight! I say to bob-san, can't wait to see him again, maybe in so cal? my pedro town? love that man.
we follow this kind musician jeremy that mike knows who invited us to konk at his pad and it's a little up off the beaten path and it takes a little bit but we make it safe and he's most kind. not much time to spend spieling w/him tonight cuz I'm tuckered but hope so tomorrow - he said he cook us up breakfast chow. even though we gained that hour at the border, the time to do the miles is what it is and watt feels it. well worth though if everyone's safe, I love that.
sunday, april 27, 2025 - flagstaff, az
from mike:
NM wind whispers
Long drive, sorry, colder here
Adjustments needed
from watt:
I pop at six and hose off... many times lately I've been hosing off night at before konk but in the following morning and that would be really terrible if I was sweating at the gigs but damn if I ain't, even in this coat my sister melinda made for me and the shirt w/the turtle collar under it. crimony. maybe it's the sitting down at gigs? whatever, I don't like me doing this so I think for sure I will force myself to hose off before konking. I do my internet stuff and chimp diary. jeremy pops and I have first chow w/hashi bob-san got me, it's three fried eggs over medium (thanks to hodge enlightening him) w/a slice a bread he himself said he made. later he gives me some potatoes cooked w/hatch chiles, most kind. we have in an hour or so the biggest spiel covering buttloads of subjects, I find him real interesting and damn if know lots about the same stuff or at least are aware of... from the rambam to the convivencia to all kinds of music stuff - I wanna turn him on to mr faraji's youtube.com station cuz he teaches music and knows about the stuff that travelled on the silk road bof ways. he shows me his 70s fender jazz bass, I dig. we gotta pull anchor at ten though... he gives me two things as I have to say farewell: "the ornament of the world" by maria rosa menocal and "love and emma goldman: a rock opera" (trippy, I got to be part of a music proj also dedicated this same lady, crimony!) - I can't wait to read/listen to bof. so glad I met jeremy, so many happening cats a tour can bring you, correct?
weather is most happening, back on us-285 and then onto I-25, we pass an offramp for bof placates where bob-san lives and the one for los alamos where trinity (yeah, that one) got birthed. crimony. miss bob-san already, not other place. raymond (bof of us love him much) has many works w/this "cloud" as part of it. we're back on I-40 head west... eleven and a half I pull us off at the rio puerco exit to fuel up the boat at $3.12/gallon at a "valero" station. onward (many miles to cover this haul) through pretty heavy winds but the boat helps me w/good handling (better than the econolines I had I have to admit), we pass a town called thoreau and it makes me think of the man himself meeting walt whitman before tripping on us being 7,275 feet up as we cross the continental divide at two bells, crossing the state line into arizona forty-something minutes later... I pull us over for a piss stop at the "indian city" offramp, ten of two- what? yeah, we gained another hour changing time zones (or got back the one we lost at this tour's beginning)... wind really blowing hard again like outside of 'burque as we pass the petrified forest (one day I gotta visit here - hell, I've been to meteor creator not too far away) and then thinking about that tune that was famous for the eagles that jackson browne wrote and since I didn't leave the boat on our last stop, I wanna take a dump in winslow so pull us off there quarter of three and dock us at a "off & running travel center" where the head has a dumper that's gotta a hose for aciting I guess like a bidet - I shit thee not! crimony. the cat at the counter doesn't charge me for the half cup of coff, kind of him - that happened earlier the day of that sand storm delay in new mexico... an hour later I drop anchor at the gig pad for flagstaff which again is the orpheum theater - the only pad mssv has ever played in this town and that's cuz of the kind support of this pad's owner charles who mike tells me is at another gig in another town and can't be here... still I'm grateful to him for his kindness always to me.
we check w/soundman scotty and monitorman michael, mostly prac for this new way to do new tune "no words" but also a re-working of older tune "ok to change" to halve the amount of kick drum to provide more punch. backstage I meet ryan and then andrew of tonight's openers, a local unit called pilcrowe and they're most kind to me. we talk about bof writers and where the bass is w/the drums. mike brings tacos from some pad nearby. I then chimp diary.
early gig (yes!), ryan and andrew bring pilcrowe on at seven and play their hearts out. our turn is at a quarter after eight and I'm a little weirded out by some spiel from gig-goers... it makes me uncomfortable to be singled-out from the people I'm playing w/and by that I mean that w/something like _mssv_ I'm part of a band and try to do the best for the band... I've always felt this about bass: you "look good" (actually "sound good") making others "look good" - kind of a "politics of bass" I've reasoned out from my experiences. if I hear people talking good about the band, the people I'm playin w/then I feel what I'm doing is successful. anyway, I wanna focus more tonight - not that last night was blurry but I think I could've been a little more together and will try and do that tonight, not getting distracted will help, me looking at mike and hodge the whole time I feel will help me do that and maybe that's some kind of help also... mike's told bof hodge and me he likes "the eyes being there" like some kind of "life preserver" if seas get choppy or worse, the keel starts coming out of the water. we are trying maneuvers new to new tune "help" that need help, yes. the flagstaff gig-goers are very kind to us but I'm feeling a little self-conscious and put my stuff away facing away which I usually don't do. I push my stuff out from the stage to the dressing room (love how this gig pad has that arranged and then right through there and to the boat and do my own stowing tonight. some gig-goers find the boat somehow and I rap and sign stuff, "wrap it up" comes from the security so... that's what's gotta be done.
mike got a 'tel called "high country" not far so it ain't long before we're there and I get to put the boat right at the hatch were I dig, can see it through the window when inside. I hose off and damn if I ain't konked before ten and a half. crimony, really lovin that!
monday, april 28, 2025 - las vegas, nv
from watt:
pop at 'pert-near six... adjust from the two hours now of time adjust cuz of the sitch w/the time zone switches... trippy coff here, in a pouch that has a paper-filter that suspends itself from the cup's edge. the coff itself is bitter and lame but better than freeze-dried or none at all, I think. seven and a half I take the boat about a mile away to "babbitt ford" to get the 5,000 mile maintenance done though we're a little over that cuz of yesterday being sunday... the man, brian, is most kind to me. everything gets done in about seventy minutes, I chimp diary after checking out the 1927 model t they got here... very interesting for me looking at the engine, I think of my pop and wish he was here so I could ask him some stuff - he always dug discussing w/me how things worked, I dug that big time.
I get back to the 'tel and never leave the boat, everyone boards and we're off and soon on I-40 west but we're at a quarter tank and I never like to go below that so at ten I pull us off at a "pilot" and mike gasses the boat at $3.04/gallon... miss hiyori brings me from the associated "subway" a salad I mix w/some of the 'dines (mike's given me his share cuz he says he can't chow the 'dine guts and bones) and then seal w/lid so can marinate while we drive, I will chow later. the weather is good w/skies clear and temperature mild, blessed be. of course some pendejos driving like pendejos but that's every fuckin day on every fuckin road we've fuckin been on fuckin everywhere. fuck. I swerve to avoid, lay back to allow "clumps of turd" (that's the way assholes who drive like assholes like to travel, in asshole packs, capito?) to pass and let us be free of their hang-ups and bullshit behavior klown-dance baby fit shit. it's obvious joke they would die laughing (or cry ashamed) if they had the perspective to see how fuckin bullshit they're play-acting in fake-living a so-called fuckin life, correct? just pieces of shit begging for a big flush w/obvious lonely wants to bring anyone unlucky to be close enough to their unhealthy hell-flail. crimony. pretty outside the windows though, driving through the whole country's like this except for the tract-home strip-mall "cheap essential scenery" (you can thank johnny rotten for some stuff he came up w/in the old days) of the plastic-lands that foul up shit in between the happening batches of healthy stuff.
a little piece of toof came out, one from all that was left of lower port one in my mouf and I toss it out into the parking lot, a donate to this town from me. piss stop at noon at an "iron gullet" (that's what georgie called them) just before kingman where we take us-93 (future I-11?) for destination las vegas... two and a half we're across the state line and into nevada (bye bye 'zona)... I get us to the gig pad the griffin in the downtown a quarter after three - well, not exactly but at parking lot about a block or so away, in fact the same lot and spot (I shit thee not) I docked us last time we played this pad, crimony! it's right next to a pawn shop. I think that's ok, security cameras and all that. I chimp diary 'til time to dump and hodge has found a coff shop that can handle that not too far so I hobble there and after leaving a few pounds lighter, I make for an extended hobble back by going around the federal and state court houses, nevada art school and some other public stuff - we're in the downtown of las vegas and not "the strip" though I can see "the golden nugget" casino not too far from this lot the boat's in... the reason I mention that is people who have lives other than visiting this place help make it more together for me. I go in the boat and chow the tacos mike bring us, they are trippy cuz they got single tortillas that are soggy and fall apart. however, I think the taste of the filling's ok, feels healthy. lettuce though, hmm... well, healthy. five and half so I bring the boat in the alley behid the gig pad, of course there's a pickup truck bogarting but I do get the boat around it... quick load-in of the stuff and I'm back in the parking spot, exact place and the parking mike paid for earlier is still good. damn if I don't konk. soundcheck will happen w/mike and hodge and of course a soundman... damn, never got to know him. sorry... same w/the gig boss... again, sorry.
I konk so long I miss the openers leaving springfield and I'm so sorry about that but staying in the boat where it's at was prolly good for me and her, correct? sometimes we gotta choose cuz of the sitch, gotta focus on what we can do what can do in perspective of the big picture. this is what I did last gig here also. mike gets me a few minutes before the ten o'clock go-time. no monitors but if you can bring it, you can overcome material stuff I can believe. this ends up one of my favorite gigs of the tour - even w/all kinds of yammering coming from an adjacent room... a few tunes I made a move w/my hand and damn if one of the las vegas gig-goers shuts the hatch. sure, there was still yammering but it was muffled. the good spirit I felt seems to be in the room w/the las vegas gig-goers also and damn is this show bouncin along really happening - we're even in the dark cuz the only lights were on each side of us a kind of verticle column of green tiles leaned against the bulkheads like at thirty degrees, point up. is the band using braile? seems so! we play pretty good. yes, there's clams but none are fatal or even severe... it's a good time, a fuckin good time. I swear that what you bring can really help, really help! love it.
I have a good time w/the las vegas gig-goers after too, signing their stuff and rapping w/them. this most kind lady gig-goer who has me sign my first two operas tells me she digs reading the tour diary, says it's like reading "on the road" by jack kerouac - that's most kind but kind of trippy... do you thnk mr kerouac looked at his book like it was theraply like I do w/my chimping? the wikipedia entry calls it a novel and I don't know if I would call my diary a novel, I call it a diary, a nikki. the thing is though, you put somehthing out there and people are gonna think what they do - they minght even change their mind as time goes on... it's their right, correct? let's hope so. anyway, I think those two operas she had me sign are kind of like "diary entries" also. I explained to her my pop's sitch in that engine room photo on the first opera's cover, felt I had to do that. there's a group of four young men who have as one of them the nephew of my dear bud brother matt and we start rapping about lots of stuff pedro and then I figure these cats would make a good "body guard" cuz the boat is in park lots not so close and this sitch is what is (I was aroused from konk for a moment by screeching wheels and then the sound of metal slamming hard, crimony! you know I konked quick after - no having a look-see from watt!) so... I ask them to join me and that's what they do, very kind of them. we have a good spiel going over there, I give them a tour of the boat and we lots of beautiful rap, what happening cats, truly.
I drive the boat over to the alley where the gig pad's back hatch is our team is the only one there, all the stuff ready to be put in. fortysix gigs into this tour, we're real efficient this happening and soon I'm got on the way to konk pad mike got using the internet in neighborhood you would not believe is what, ten miles from casino wild world whatever? crimony, it's trippy. I hose off, making sure on that before getting into the nightwear. a great gig tonight and a real good time w/brother matt's nephew and his buddies... a real happy watt, let me tell you - I konk real quick and I can just imaging w/cheshire cat mode on the face, I shit thee not.
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