September 2004

Had a great time Sunday at Rusty’s
Blaine Younger
Rob Hildreth
Trevor Burgess
Pete Gile
We were all sitting at the same table
That’s never happend before

If a bomb went off there
It would have been the day the music died
Or at least www.countrykansas.com

Just found out today that I’ll be playing Salina
JC’s Bar and Thrill
Song-swappin’ with Burgess on the new PA
Rollin’ up in the new van (read: short bus)
Burgess, my new truck can take your new van

Put up a new download in the downloads section
24 Feet at a Rusty’s

Looking forward to Saturday
Taking Blaine home to meet the Busters
Finally have my new electronics tweaked
Should have some dynamite recordings for you members

You’ll hear from me.

Had an absolutely marvelous time last night
Davey’s Uptown
Downtown KC, MO
Thanks to the ladies from Lincoln for treating us so well
Thanks to Corey Rice for being the designate
Thanks to 4020 for getting me up to sing
I couldn’t have asked for a better birthday party

How was I supposed to know that talented only had one “L”? Thanks, Shana Kerstetter, for keeping me on my toes. To the rest of you: it was only a typo. My “L” key sticks sometimes…

I promised I’d post pictures of the modifications to my truck. Here’s the story.

When I pulled the cover off of my filter housing I realized I had a broken EGR valve.
This is what the valve looked like.

This is what the bad valve did to my intake manifold. The manifold shouldn’t look
like this.

I needed a new EGR valve.

My GM dealer told me that my diesel engine didn’t have an EGR valve. After I told
him he was full of shit, I gave him the AC Delco part number. He looked it up and
sheepishly told me that they wanted $240. Autozone knew that my diesel used an EGR
valve and they only wanted $140 for one, but they would have to order it. That’s
when I decided to take matters into my own hands. I drove to my local Orscheln Farm
& Home Supply and purchased the cover plate to an electrical junction box, a tube
of high temp. gasket silicone, and a bolt. I cut the plate to the shape of my EGR
valve, ground out a couple of notches in the ends, and used the bolt to plug the
vacuum line. This is my creation.

It sure runs better now after spending my $7.94.

I’ve been shorting the log for a while. I’d better make up for it.

I’m selling my Mazda to pay for a guitar upgrade
If this weren’t so nerve racking it’d be laughable

Late breaking news
I’m playing tonight in Hunter, KS at Vera’s
We’ll do our best to add another chapter to the Aaron’s and Trevor’s 2004 Fun With Road Signs Picture Diary

The Buster’s show will be an acoustic song-swap with Blaine Younger. Look for the flyers soon.

What in the hell is wrong with me?
I’m under the weather again
At least it waited until after last night’s show
One of the best I’ve ever played
Thanks again to everyone who had complete attendance
I can’t remember the last time more than a few people were there for the ENTIRE show
Great bar, great crowd…I’ll be back

There’s a new download for you members. I’m going to swing by and say hi to Pete on my way home to hibernate. Guess I’d better stock up on orange juice and chicken noodle. I wonder…if I ate orange juice and chicken noodle soup when I wasn’t sick instead of consuming nothing but microwavable burritos from Wal*Mart, would I ever get sick again?

I’m finally looking forward to the Bobby T’s open mic tonight. I got word that a bunch of people are planning on it. It should be a fun time.

Anyone wanting to get in on the caravan to Stillwater tomorrow for the 4020 / Chris Knight show better contact me soon. We’re going to lock plans for who is driving and who needs rides tomorrow by noon. Departure time is currently between 4:00pm and 5:00pm.

I absolutely can’t wait for the show Saturday night in Leonardville. For those of you who do not have my log rolled up and thrown at you every morning, Trevor Burgess and I previewed the joint last week. It’s super cool and well worth the easy, 30 minute drive west out of Manhattan on Highway 24.

Also, we’re putting up a members only download site. If you’re not registered already, it’s quite free and painless. You then get access to bootlegs and videos from shows and any other neat stuff I can think to put up there that might get me in trouble. There should be more added there within a week or two.

Can’t anyone write a good song anymore? I’ll get to that shortly.

I downloaded Windows Media Player 10 a short time ago. I think it is fantastic. I eliminated both PowerDVD and MusicMatch Jukebox from my computer. That makes two fewer applications I have to have installed because Windows Media Player now incorporates a DVD decoder and a solid, easy, and not-fufu-looking ripping component that will rip to MP3 at astonishing speed. So far so good.

It also comes with the option of hooking to several of the new Internet music pay-per-download sites. Also cool. I took the liberty of registering with Wal*Mart’s offering and, using my trusty Capitol One VISA, previewed both Jason Boland’s and Pat Green’s new singles. They both suck. I’m used to suckiness from Pat Green ever since his last shipwreck of an album to which, by the way, I can’t help thinking he alludes subconciously in the title track from that album. But Boland? Sure his vocals at live shows aren’t on par with, say, Bob Dylan, but the fact that one of the best songwriters to come from the red dirt movement has anything to do with the lackluster lyrics and pop-country, Down-on-the-Farm-ripoff music of “Somewhere in the Middle” is disheartening. I’m merely hoping that the rest of the tracks off the CD fare better than the title track.