August 2005

I had one hell of a week.

Wednesday night I played at Harbour Lights in Lawrence. I had a fun show, but the return was anything but. My truck was in the shop racking up a $430 repair bill for the speedometer. Sometime around 3:00am, somewhere between St. Mary’s and Rossville, in somewhat of a downpour, my borrowed Blazer somehow ran out of gas while the gauge registered something like ¼ tank left. I ended up sleeping, if you can call it that, intermittently in the Blazer until my sister could come get me when she got out of class on Friday. It wasn’t exactly the most productive use of my time.

Thursday night found me in Alva, OK, where I played to a very packed Ira’s Place. The crowd was very good. A big thanks to Tyler Hiltner and Wes Wright for running door for me. Thanks to everyone there for liking good music.

I had Friday off so I went with [Chris ]G[oering] to watch Arthur Dodge and the Horsefeathers at Auntie Mae’s. As we were walking up to the door, a transformer blew and several bars, including our destination, lost power. We went in anyway and drank beer by candlelight until the powers that be [late] restored power.

Burgess came to town on Saturday night to play at Bobby T’s. Dusty Feighner and I opened with a swap, and Chivalrous Productions provided some badass sound equipment. The show was great and I saw a lot of friends.

We booked a show this Sunday at Dave’s in Kiowa. It’ll be G’s first show with us. Mason and Deines will be there. It should be one hell of a party, if I’m still alive. I have a big auction Thursday, I’m playing in Hays on Friday, I have an auction on Saturday at 10:00am in St. Mary’s, Wayne’s throwing a party on Saturday night, and then it’s the drive to Kiowa on Sunday. I’m sure we’ll get retarded as usual at Dave’s, only to limp back to Manhattan to get ready for PJ’s on Tuesday. God help me, I love it so. If only I’d been taught intelligent design when I was in school…I’d be a business major listening to Kenny Chesney.

Well, its been a significant amount of time since I last posted. I apologize. I’ve started school again and I am just now getting over my illness. We never really figured out what it was/is. Anyway, I thought that I would let everyone know that I am doing well and really looking forward to jumping back in the saddle. I am feeling really renewed and ready to play some more music. I really miss everyone, and also miss the music. When I began I really didn’t know what the hell this music was all about, now it has become a very important part of my playing style. Thanks to everyone who introduced me to the music and thanks to Aaron for asking me to join his fiasco. Bobbie and I returned from Spain in a safe manner, I’ll be doing just fine not to see another airplane in a few months. Our return flight was 8 hrs and 50 minutes long. I needn’t say more. I am planning on really tying one on tonight, our friends are coming up to Lawrence from Wichita tonight and Its Dan’s birthday, lots of beer for everyone! Stop by my house if you are in the neighborhood! Speaking of Birthdays, my good friend Tyler Hiltner is having a birthday today, happy b-day brother. I’d buy you a beer if I was there. So I have another beer review for you: The beer is a Spanish beer, it’s about the equivalent (in popularity and advertising) to Budweiser. Nothing really to write home about though. It tastes very similar to Pabst Blue Ribbon, which doesn’t hurt my feelings at all but I was expecting something a little different. The name of the beer is Cruzcampo, check it out online, I think that they have a website. Below is a photo of Bobbie, her best friend Kristine and I at a Bodega in Jerez, Spain. Psssssssst, bodega means Winery. It was a tasting, note the glasses on the table, yeah, I was feeling alright. We had 27 year old brandy and great sherry and wine. We also saw dancing horses and Flamenco.

Adios,

MP

I had a nice week-and-a-half off
Back on the road

Harbour Lights in Lawrence tonight
Looking forward to playing there again now that school’s back in session
I love that bar

Ira’s Place in Alva tomorrow night
They’re having some ungodly special
$1.00 beer night or something like that
I got a call last night from a patron
“I just wanted to warn you that it’s going to be packed on Thursday”
“Thanks, Robby”
Too bad we won’t have drums for BP to stand behind all night
Counting the days to Mason’s triumphant return

Big show on Saturday in Manhattan
Trevor is bringing his band home to meet the family
They’re never going to come back
Heh

There’s a space-time tear
In the middle of my heart
Because you’re not there
And you never did start
To fill the void you left
When you never did be
You’re not here with me
I’m a singularity

I went to the casinos last night
First time for everything
Played Texas Hold ‘em
Such a gay game compared with real poker
They don’t run five card stud up there

I’ve been watching nothing but Bullshit lately
It’s quite possibly the greatest reality TV show of all time. I only wish this show had been around for the past hundred years. Perhaps all of the bullshit in today’s society wouldn’t smell so bad. I also wish like hell that Carl Sagan could have seen it before he died — finally, a mainstream show committed to debunking myths, superstition, pseudo-science, and religious wackos. This show alone would be worth the cost of Showtime.

I’m enjoying my first week off in a while.

I love my state.

I hope everyone else got up at 7:00am this morning to hear Discovery return safely. If you didn’t, you should pay more attention.

Just when I thought Bush couldn’t get any stupider…

Our fearless leader says we should teach the “theory” of intelligent design alongside the “theory” of evolution. Let’s go to class, people.

There isn’t a “theory” of intelligent design. At least, most educated scientists wouldn’t recognize it as a theory any more than they would call my belief that Bush is actually a six year old in a man’s body a theory. Sure there are people who believe it, but it has no factual basis. A theory is, by definition, as close as science can come to fact. There are other theories of which you may have heard. There’s a theory of gravity, a theory of the periodic table, nuclear theory — a whole slew of theories, in fact, that build our basis for the understanding of natural phenomenon. If we’re going to teach “intelligent design” as a legitimate alternative to evolution, we should also teach the four elements of earth, wind, and fire as a legitimate alternative to the periodic table. We should teach that a nuclear bomb is actually God farting and not an atomic reaction. If we’re going to actually instill doubt in our children about the history of evolution, we should instill the same doubt about the theory that the earth circles the sun. Oh, and the Earth is flat. Really. Some people believe it. It apparently works for intelligent design.

…of pepper.

Seriously.

We’ll get to that. I was blown away by Stoney and Jeremy at Longhorn’s on Thursday. Chivalrous Productions should have their new website up within the next couple of weeks.

We had a very good time as always last Friday at the Rail in Hays. Blaine’s band came out, as did JD’s. After sleeping from 4:00am to 7:00am, I decided it was time to drive home. I made it to Walker, where I then decided it would be a good idea to take a nap parked outside the church. By 9:00am, my headache was worse and I had developed a kink in my neck due to my non-reclining seats in my truck.

Even with the eventual nap I took once I got back to Sharon, my voice was still shot. I didn’t get it whipped into shape until about three hours into my set at Buster’s. The crowd was a little weak, with the exception of a few close friends, until about 10:00pm. They refused to believe that I didn’t know “Cinnamon Girl” or any Journey. Some guy asked for Big and Rich. A big thanks to Lern Tilton for writing the response to that request.

So back to the lines…After the show, the one table of hard-core partiers decided it would be funny to offer $5.00 to anyone who would do a line. The only powder they had immediately at their disposal was ground pepper. I’ve seen a lot of things after shows, but I’ve never seen anyone snort pepper for money. I love rednecks.

I had a much larger crowd at PJ’s last Tuesday than I expected. Thanks to everyone who came for, well, coming.

Saw Chris “G” Goering
Made the move to Manhattan
What the hell was he thinking?
May be playing some bass for the ATB
Swinging tremolo style

Hays tomorrow for another installment of the We Hate Country Music tour
Got Stack’s amp warming up
Rock and roll