July 2005

Here we go. This is going to be fun. Dodge City Days tonight from 10:00pm - 2:00am. Long Black Highway Days from 3:00am to 8:00am as I drive back to Topeka for an auction for the Kansas Highway Patrol for which I need to be in Topeka tomorrow by 8:30am.

If I don’t sleep tonight I’ll sleep tomorrow.

It’s 9:43pm and I haven’t yet left my apartment. It’s so nice to have a comfortable place to live with Internet access. I’ve been doing a lot of geek work and I’m up for a break.

I played with Blaine last Friday in Wakeeney, KS. It’s been a while since I had so much fun. I played something like six originals, covered one of Rob’s songs, then played some more originals before playing one of Trevor’s songs. I think I got through everything but Republican. I should have played Republican…I may have avoided this guy talking to me for 30 minutes, trying to convince me to go to Afghanistan on a USO tour. He said his good friend was Darryl Worley. I nodded as if I knew who he was. The guy was nice and had some nice things to say, but I don’t think Afghanistan is the best place for alt-country music.

The Lincoln County Fair was a struggle, but we somehow pulled it out. There was a decent crowd that liked the folk and bluegrass. We don’t get to play that kind of music very often.

Dodge City Days this weekend.

Hey everybody,
Well, I am feeling alright, however, I am not quite there yet. I went back to the doc today and found that there is something really wrong with me. He gave me three options as to what my problem is. Upper respiratory pneumonia, Tuberculosis (sp), or a fungal growth in my lungs. This could take up to six months depending on the nature of the problem. I should be able to play but with some fatigue involved. I have a head full of medicine and lungs full of goo. This is going to be a short blog due to me being at work and not knowing what the hell to say now. Except, there goes the new drum kit, all the money spent on health care. I’ll try to keep everyone up on what is happening, until then I am hoping to make it to Sylvan Grove.
Until then be sure and check out this website, it is very funny in a really weird/sick kind of way. http://community-of-christ.mathew-mount.com/ Not sure who Mathew Mount is or why he designed this website but the text that he captioned under some of the pictures is hilarious.

Adios,

MP

Hey everyone sorry its been so long since I’ve blogged I kind of went into a slum of doing nothing but work and watchin tv after getting back from Japan. Went to Las Vegas last week also and it kicked ass. I went because it was Kappa Sigma’s Grand Conclave (my fraternity’s international biannual convention). That’s right 1000+ of my fellow brothers and myself al wondering around Vegas without supervision. It kicked ass. It was also really expensive! I’m now completely broke. Oh Well, It was all in the name of a good time. And what time however my lawyer as advised me to take the fifth on all things that happened there so i don’t end up going to jail.

As you all know our drummer as finally come back from his trip to death’s door. Apparently it was about as hot there as in Vegas. We’re all glad that he’s finally back. Well take care everyone.

Deinesaur

I’ll be playing a solo acoustic set at Bobby T’s tomorrow night, here in Manhattan.

We’re also looking forward to the Lincoln County Fair next weekend.

I’ll do better, I promise.

Hey everybody! Well, after about 2 1/2 weeks I am finally back on my feet and back to work. I had a bout with a bacterial infection in my lungs and sinuses. Very bad stuff. Two doctor visits later and too damn much money I am feeling just about par for course. I’ll definitely be ready for the show on the 23rd so………I hope that I’ll see everyone out there in wonderful Sylvan Grove, KS for the Lincoln County Fair!!!

Well, I’ve decided. I am in the process of saving money to purchase a new kit. DW drums make the most fabulous drums on the planet. Looking to purchase a 6 - 8 piece kit. So now the money saving begins. I am looking at spending around $5,000. I’ll be taking donations throughout the rest of my life to save up for this kit, ha ha ha. Just kidding. If you want check out the website and see what I want to buy.

www.dwdrums.com

Adios, MP

Hey, just wanted to apologize for anyone who went to the show last night at Harbour Lights. I’m sure Aaron had an awesome show but I had to miss due to a wonderful case of pneumonia that I’ve contracted over our tour this weekend. I have felt like I was going to croke for the past three days. We had such a great weekend though, I think my body just kept moving due to the adrenaline. I’m beginning to feel somewhat better but still have a horrible cough. Hopefully I’ll be over this for the next show. Thanks to everyone who came out to the shows this weekend and Thanks to Ashely Cook who put me up for the night in Hays. Also, I know I don’t just speak for myself when I say thanks to Tyler Hiltner. We really appreciate all of your hospitality and help this weekend. Look for another show at Dave’s in Kiowa, KS soon because I believe we had a great turn out, even during all of the weather. I also believe that we’ll be headed back to Ira’s in Alva, OK pretty soon. Should be loads of fun. Thanks BP for giving Aaron and I such a chuckle throughout our show! Well, I guess that I will see all of you at the next show, which is coming up pretty soon. Guess I’ll have to get rid of this pneumonia fast as hell.

Next website to check out: www.ebaumsworld.com, you will honestly find some sort of fun here!

Adios, MP

I hope everyone had a happy Independance Day
I did
I didn’t
I did and didn’t

A coworker broke my 1983 Brougham that serves as my backup transportation and the starter went out in my pickup toward the waning days of harvest. I found a new one on eBay for less than half the price of one from the parts store and had it delivered to Manhattan so it would be waiting for me when I arrived. I pull started my pickup and came back, leaving my truck parked until the starter arrived on Friday. After not allowing enough time for installation, getting frustrated and doing stupid things such as raging and breaking a battery cable and fowling up my clutch linkage, I realized at 3:30pm on Friday that I wasn’t going to make my 2:00pm departure deadline for the show in Hays. I started loading my equipment in the Blazer, only to fill it up with half of the required equipment. Out of options, I rented a 2005 F-150 for the last four days, blowing any possible profit from the weekend shows and then some. I took a picture of the dash, because it’ll probably be many years before I’m actually behind the wheel of something that new again.

I didn’t make Blaine’s show at the WWF, but we did get set up in time for an 11:00pm start at the Rail. It was one of the funnest shows I’ve played in a while, and a big thanks go to the Blaine Younger band for crashing my party after they got done playing down town. Blaine got up and sang a song and Mike and Johnny got up and played a few oldies with us.

The sojourn to Oklahoma was pleasant, moreso I must admit than it would have been in my pickup.

I knew it would be a good show at Ira’s in Alva, OK, when I pulled up and found everyone there already drunk and willing to help Mason and me load in. Everyone was singing along and hitting on my girlfriend while I sang on. Mason broke out the old drum solo for the finale, making me realize what a complete idiot I’ve been for not forcing him to do it more often. It’ll definately be part of our set in the future.

While we deserve to be dead in a ditch somewhere, we somehow made it back as far as Kiowa and crashed at Tyler Hiltner’s Holiday Hotel.

A big thanks to Tyler for not only being so hospitibal, but also for hooking us up with the stormy show at Dave’s. Jim’s car broke down before the show, leaving us bassless for the evening. Roger Powell, Mason’s father, set in on bass for the first half of the night, filling out the sound. We had a great response, and it looks like we’ll be back soon. The only problem with Sunday’s show was that I left my voice in Oklahoma. Josh Jacobs got up for a partial Emotional Feedback reunion on the Skynyrd songs, giving me a much needed break. The other highlight, at least for me personally, was that we got to play Rain King again. We used to play the shit out of that song; this was the first time the whole crowd was actually yelling, screaming, and dancing to it.

The pickup ended up costing $230. After the $135 bar tab that we somehow racked up at Dave’s, I don’t think I quite came close to that, much less compensation enough for gas. To top it all off, I was supposed to be able to move in to my new place on Friday; I figured I’d give the previous occupant a few extra days. We pulled in yesterday to find the room still full of stuff.
I am so crumpled emotionally and physically after these last few days that I can’t function. All I want is a place to lay my head, functioning transportation, and a few days off. With a show in Lawrence on Wednesday, a truck and a car that still aren’t fixed, and money spent on two apartments in neither of which can I currently sleep, it doesn’t look like my wishes will come true.

Happy birthday, Mike McClure.

“The price of a memory is the memory of the sorrow it brings.” –Duritz