Got back from the vacation all bitten up and sunburned, but pleased with the amount of beer I was able to imbibe – so much so that I was able to withstand the entire ‘Micheal Bolton’s Greatest Hits” cd one night at the resort bar. The bartender liked MB, and since he was serving me drinks one right after another, I put up with it. I didn’t listen to the ipod at all during the trip, but heard a lot of JJ & The rogues, Clinic, Echo & the Bunnymen and other catchy-tuned bands in my head. The last time I vacationed, I had the ipod set to play the Shins’ 2 cds over and over and I will always attach the memory of European winter train rides and tours with them. It’s much better to do this sonic memory attachment experiment when you are in an interesting environment instead of the usual daily commute or errand run, replete with exciting traffic lights, pavement and crap.

Nothing much in the way of band news – until the June Gigs at dada and black dog tavern. Will pump those up later. I haven’t been very creative lately, a lot of phrases and snippets of songs pop into my head every now and then, but nothing has really grabbed me and demanded my full attention. That or they sound too much like the stuff I’ve already done. The cheesy method i use – singing melodies and other musical parts into a tape recorder during conscious or semi-conscious states, to be later re-worked with electronic or actual instruments and then recorded as demos – is working, but I’m just not happy with any of the ideas after I revisit them with a more objective ear. Mr. Muse ‘ll come back eventually. (prayer)

In other news, Chris Carmichael and Lindsay Graham have opened a new recording studio called dmeter studios. I haven’t taken the tour yet, but I can already guess it will be filled with all sorts of cool gear, backed by their own highly-proficient, creative engineering and production-driven minds.

Also, Trey mentioned that Sorta is gonna be playing a ton of shows and several out of town mini-tours in support of their upcoming release in the late summer/fall. He said, “Are you SURE you don’t want a fill in for me?” I’ll take that as an open invitation. If any of you readers like to bang on things and are interested, let me know. We’d love to keep the live thing going as much as possible, even though other members are quite busy with other projects.

Finally, I’ll be at Club Dada this Thursday night to see Amanda’s Boca Tinta produced “Listening To…” series featuring Dirt Blazers, Alamo Jet, and The Atoms – a Ya’llternative set. Should be a helluva lot of fun. C’mon out!

Welp, in true badass fashion – our own Chris Holt (also of Olospo and solo stuff) won Musician of the Year AND Best Instrumentalist at this year’s Dallas Observer Music Awards.

Congratulations Chris!!

From Chris’ myspace blog:
Wow…in between strikes of the giant hammer that keeps pounding my head in the form of a vicious hangover, I’ve come to realize (again) that you fans are the greatest…I am so thankful that you guys showed enough support for me and the band to give me another two awards last night. I honestly felt like last year’s Musician Of The Year win was a freak fluke…the awards show equivalent of the one-hit-wonder…but now that you guys have given me a second round of praise fills me with the highest gratitude. Musician Of The Year and Best Instrumentalist?? Damn…I’m not sure I deserve both of those…but I’m not gonna refuse them…what an incredible honor. I’m also really happy for Salim and Sorta and Woodbelly…it was like all of our friends finally got their due. Thank you so much to everyone who voted, and for sticking with me and the band for so many years. Despite my current state of nausea, I feel great, thanks to all of you. Stay tuned for more music…there’s a lot more on the way.

Chris
5/10/06

Our Drummer Trey, who also plays in Sorta helped carry home the award for “Best Act Overall”. Long time coming for those Sorta boys. Congrats.

So everyone come out to the Cavern tomorrow and buys these guys a beer, then watch them prove why they are so deserved of such honors.

Thanks to everyone who came to last night’s show, including the BM Show, Airline, JJ & The Rogues, Long-lost friends Steve Pickering and Kevin Denbow, Bruce and Luke, Mark Pittman and a whole bunch of other folks.

Rather than being all happy and positive about everything I’ll put it bluntly –

[Comic Book Guy] worst. show. ever. [/Comic Book Guy].

While our music may sound deceptively simple, I can assure you it is actually very challenging to play, even for some of the best musicians in dallas. Unrehearsed, little things that make a good song great can easily slip away, producing a blander, sloppier version of the tune. Last night served as a wake-up call to me. This won’t happen again. If we’re gonna do this live thing, we need to do it right. Everyone in the audience reacted positively to the show and gave plenty of praise and ovation, but on stage we just didn’t feel ‘it’.

Anyhoo – enough bashing. We’ll be back and better – I promise.