and the winner is...

after much debate and discussion (yes, i talk to myself), i've decided that my favorite playlist in the little contest from a couple of weeks ago belongs to...drum roll, please...she said what?!?. now that she's present to win, ms. what should email me in order to claim her prize.

here's the winning playlist:
1. 10 A.M. Automatic The Black Keys
2. Saturday Morning The Eels
3. Please Please Please Shout Out Louds
4. I Won't Be Left Tegan & Sara
5. Sunday Sunny Mill Valley Groove Day Frank Black
6. My Sin Is Pride Adrienne Young
7. Do The Whirlwind Architecture In Helsinki
8. I Turn My Camera On Spoon
9. Love In A Trashcan The Raveonettes
10. It's Not The Fall That Hurts The Caesars
11. Banquet Bloc Party
12. Equus Blonde Redhead
13. Crawling Up The Hill Katie Melua
14. Rockabye (Farewell Lonesome Done) King Wilkie
15. Sunshine Barato The Mosquitos
16. O Telefone Tocou Novamente Giles Peterson In Brazil
17. Black Tambourine Beck
18. After Dark Le Tigre
19. Swollen Summer The Bravery
20. Mrs. Leroy Brown Loretta Lynn

i highly recommend all of you fine readers to go out and purchase these songs from your favorite download site or records store. i know my wish list has just gotten longer.

now...here's the fun bit on the contest. i liked everyone's lists and thought it very kind of you to try to help. so, i'm giving everyone who sent me a playlist a copy of my cd, heater. i'm going to try to go back to everyone's various lists and email the authors, but if you sent me a list, send me an email with your address and i'll mail you a cd next week. my address can be found at my "official" site, www.newtondominey.net. if you'd rather, i'll give you one in person. just come to my show on sept 17 at the basement w/mack starks, tell me who you are and i'll give you the cd there. either way's fine with me.

thanks again for playing. i'm sure i'll have some other problem that needs fixing soon.

so far san fran, the pictures

here are the pictures. feel free to leave comments (here or there)...

so far san fran

(it's monday. this post was started on saturday.)

i realized this morning as i stumbled down to david's delicatessen and starbucks (it's the only coffee shop i can see; i'd much rather have something local.) for scones and americanos i realized something: if i don't post about this trip as it happens, i may not get to post about it at all and that's not too cool. so, here's the trip so far in a nutshell:

the flight was easy, only delayed a few minutes in houston, but that gave us time to eat dinner (a good thing, since our in flight meal was bbq chicken, NO EXCEPTIONS. good thing my frequent flyer preferences say vegetarian.). we had a "cab" ride with a crazy greek man who had the wife and i both sweating as he swerved back and forth in the lane, drove 20 mph below the speed limit, looked at his phone and checked his next itinerary. we didn't die, so it could've been worse.

the hotel is mucho swanky and apparently has one of the hottest bars in town. the whole bar is paneled with the wood of one redwood tree, and also has "digital" paintings on the wall. basically it's high def tvs showing video of people posing like they're in portrait paintings, so it looks like a painting except it blinks and occasionally swallows or turns its head. tres cool. we walked in looking like we'd been on a plane for 8 hours, while everyone else looked like they fell out of a magazine ad. off we went upstairs to freshen up, and down we came, ready to have a walk-off with the best of 'em. little did we know we were going to have to rumble just to get to the bar. (NOTE TO BAR-GOERS EVERYWHERE: you don't eat your lunch in the luby's line, so WHY THE CRAP DO YOU DRINK YOUR DRINK AT THE BAR?!?!?! get your drink and get the hell outta the way!) a few drinks, and a few smushed model toes later, we were ready to collapse into our fancy, well made bed.

friday morning we slept in and then headed out to the mission district to visit otsu, a vegan store we had heard about, and to see what other adventures we could have. the people at otsu told us we should head down valencia to a vegan restaurant called herbivore for lunch and to hit some of the cool shops along the way. knick knacks and clothes in hand, we headed on our way. the first shop we saw was paxton gate, a taxidermy/gardening shop. let's just say it was unique. there is a stuffed lion in the front window, a giraffe (from the shoulder up) greets you when you walk in, and there are all make and manner of almost creepy but somehow really cool pictures and stuffed animals and bugs on display. oh, and in the back there's a gardening shop. it's like a sex shop that also sells some office supplies. anyhow. we bought some souvenirs for friends and family, asked them where herbivore was, got menu recommendations (bbq seitan sandwiches and thai iced tea) and headed down the street. lunch at herbivore didn't disappoint. the seitan sandwiches were delicious, the seasoned potatoes (a fancy name for french fries) were cooked just right, the thai iced tea was delicious and it didn't cost us but $25. pre tip. with directions on how to get to the nearest bart station in hand, out the door we went to continue our adventure. little did i know it would take us to aquarius records, home to the conet project, as well as all other weird music and stuff. it's like the cbgb of records stores. you're gonna find a little bit of everything, and maybe more, there.

(saturday post stopping...monday posting beginning.)

the bart was easy enough to navigate and we soon found ourselves at the port of san francisco, ready to head down to pier 39 and the fisherman's wharf for some true tourist activities. we decided to walk to the pier after waiting for about 20 minutes for a cable car, watching all the skater and biker dudes doing tricks (i found out later why all of the wharf looked familiar. i'd "been there" while playing tony hawk pro skater 4. who says video games are bad for you?). the wharf was nice and touristy, we saw alcatraz (it's not nearly as far from the coast as you'd think), we saw the bay bridge, and we watched the sea lions for a little while. tourist bug satisfied, we caught a cab back to the hotel to get ready for the the baseball game.

fellas: one note about baseball games. the little lady might hate baseball (as is the case with the wife), but she likes seeing her name in lights! a birthday message, or any message for that matter, on the scoreboard goes a long way toward establishing you as the man of the hour. as for the game, steve traeschel (?) took a no hitter into the 6th for the mets, but gave up a single in the 6th and then (i think) a 2 run homer as we were walking out in the bottom of the 8th. i don't know who won, and frankly could care less. sbc park, by the way, is very nice and even has a "27" under the clock on the side of the stadium. gotta love it.

saturday we continued our "walking" tour of san francisco. it started, as all walking tours should, with a cab ride across the city to the cliff house, lunch at louis' diner, and then on to golden gate park to see the buffalo paddock, the japanese tea garden and the conservatory of flowers. the buffalo were okay, but we got stuck there for 45 minutes waiting for a shuttle that didn't come. they're not 45 minutes of excitement. the japanese tea garden was beautiful and serene. the conservatory of flowers had beautiful gardens outside, but the conservatory itself was closed. oh well, better luck next time.

instead of waiting for a bus outside the park, we decided to walk a few blocks across to the street that our hotel was on and then just take a "straight line" ride to our hotel. it was really cool to walk through neighborhoods and see the city like we lived there. we caught bus and it drove us through japantown (one of only a few in the country), past the legendary blues club boom boom room, and i think it even took us past the fillmore, but i can't be certain. moving on. we had dinner up the street at millenium, one of the highest rated vegan restaurants in the country. i don't care who you are, that's good eatin'. a lot of people have weird visions of vegan restaurants, so allow me to clarify: millennium is the restaurant attached to the savoy hotel. it's not like we ate dinner in some hippie's kitchen. we're talking some real gourmet shit here. we split fried polenta with lobster mushrooms and beans for a starter, i had the warm spinach salad with smoked tofu and pecans for a salad, jerk spiced tempeh for dinner, blackberry shortcake for dessert with a glass of local armagnac (like cognac, but it'll make your eyes water). the wife had a raw salad with cucumbers, tomatoes and radishes (can't remember the name of the dish), polenta encrusted eggplant, and almond chocolate midnite for dessert with some type of chocolate coffee martini awesomeness. all of that and not even a hint of animal stuff! the afternoon of walking all over the park and the city, combined with 2 nites of mucho mojitos and scotch, combined with that nite's bottle of wine and after dinner drinks had us very very very sleepy, and sent us to bed at 11 pm local time, instead of the 2 am lights out we'd been doing.

that's more or less the trip in a nutshell (a large nutshell). we flew back in last nite to muggy, humid, rainy nashville and already wish we were back in sunny san francisco. now i'm at work wading through 30 voicemails and faxes, 100 emails, bosses and deadlines, and, and, and, and. all i can think is, "we came back why?"

we took arse loads of photos that i'll upload to snapfish or flicker or something later today, maybe during the lunch i shouldn't take but am heading out for anyway. as soon as i get them ready, i'll post the link here.

boston in two days. both coasts in one week!

oh, contest results are ready...gonna have to save them for tomorrow. can you bear the suspense!?!?!?!

more questions

okay. i need help. as i've mentioned, i'm taking the wife on a super secret trip this weekend. up until a few minutes ago, when i realized that i have NO IDEA what to tell her to bring, i wasn't going to mention where we were going in case she read my blog.

who the hell am i kidding? 30 people read this garbage every day, and she's not one of them. she gets enough of my garbage at home.

so here it is: we're going to san francisco. sssshhhh, don't tell.

i've never been there. i barely know what to pack for me, so i need you all to tell me (all 30 of you) what do i tell her to pack?

eat up.

i barely have time to rip people off...but until these guys get pissed about it, i love these types of questions. here are my answers; what are yours?

Appetizer
Do you get excited when the season begins to change? Which season do you most look forward to?
season changes are cool, as long as they don't jack with my allergies. by far, fall is the best season. spring comes in 2nd, winter 3rd and summer last.
Soup
What day of the week is usually your busiest?
at this point they're all equally busy.

Salad
Would you consider yourself to be strict when it comes to grammar and spelling? What's an example of the worst error you've seen?
definitely a spelling and grammar stickler. capital letters notwithstanding. i don't have any examples of egregious errors.

Main Course
Who has a birthday coming up, and what will you give them as a gift?
the wife. rest assured that it's big, it's this weekend, and it's a surprise. she might read this, so mum's the word. i'll blog about it this weekend and next week i'm sure.

Dessert
If you could have any new piece of clothing for free, what would you pick?
it'd definitely have to be a corduroy suit. i played the same show as david rawlings once and he had on a gray one. if it wasn't for the respect i have for him, i would've hit him with my guitar and stripped him. if i can't have one of those, i'll settle for a bitchin' white non leather belt.

a-hole alert!!

i need your help getting the word out about this. if you have a blog or some other public outlet, please link to this post...thanks in advance. on the post:

matthew ryan's guitar was stolen thursday nite. it's a martin acoustic (light colored) with an amnesty international sticker (or some serious sticker residue) on the back. if you happen to hear of anyone trying to unload a guitar, or if you know anything about it, please contact me:

newtondominey **at** comcast **dot** net

let's help matthew find his guitar (and maybe the asshat that stole it).

thanks.

last chance, last dance, make some playlist romance

don't forget...the tshirt/playlist contest ends tonite. for officiallity's sake, let's say the cutoff is midnite central time.

wanna shirt?












get me your list! 11-ish hours and counting...

bits and pieces

last nite's show was a hoot. at least that's what i thought. the loops weren't as good as i'd hoped, but for a first run, i'm pretty happy with how everything sounded. i know that some of you were there; what'd you think?

that's all for now. i've got a headache that i'm still blaming on the braces, but i'm sure that living the high life last nite didn't help matters. for now, in the words of huey lewis,

"i'm taking what they're givin', cause i'm workin' for a livin'."

***
oh, thought you all might be interested in this...bred for it's skills in magic.

all day long

my day just got a little bit better.

i found this on the God-bless-ed internet. i could watch it all day long. click the link, turn it up. it's not one of those stupid "some serene setting until a zombie pops up" videos or a "you've downloaded lots of porn!" announcement. it's my favorite moment EVER in sports. the nashville predators first home playoff goal. i was there. i still get misty eyed thinking about it.

everything else remains the same. headache...wanna be in bed...worried about the show...blah blah blah.

brace yourself.

yesterday the rest of my braces were installed. or implanted. or attached. whatever. braces, you say? yeah, braces. i've got tmj disorder. up until about 18 months ago, when this guy started treating me and correcting the issue, i had headaches every day, all the time. 24/7. some of them felt like just a bit of tension, others had me taking whatever pills i could get my hands on, getting in bed, putting a pillow over my head and rubbing my feet together* until i fell asleep. things are much, much better today than they were then. i have maybe one headache every 2-3 weeks and my jaw doesn't click when i eat. anyway.

so yesterday, dr. simmons put brackets on my front upper teeth. no big deal, i thought. just more shit in my mouth and the sooner they go on the sooner they come off, i thought. this morning i think i'm regretting that decision. my teeth hurt. my head hurts. i don't think i slept last nite because i can barely keep my eyes open right now. my whole damn body feels out of balance. i want to go home. i want to go to bed. i sure as heck don't want to be here.

a n d i h a v e a s h o w t o n i t e .

i think, and i'm hoping, that i'll shake it off and will feel better in a couple of hours. if not, maybe i can catch a 30 minute nap before i play.

to those of you planning on coming out tonite (to the show. not to your parents.), don't worry. i'll play like a champ and you'll love every last note. i'll just feel like someone backed a dump truck over my ass.





*having trouble falling asleep? try this. i swear to buddha, it works. in a pinch, an acceptable substitute is the rubbing of the bedsheets between one's fingers. oh, i also found out that the little star thing over there at the left is not called an "aster-ik", it's called an "aster-isk." just in case you were curious.

make no mistakes

i am a geek in rock & roll clothing. i play video games, i like computers and, yes victoria, i play fantasy football. muffy does, too. she's a rookie, so she asked me for some tips. what the hell, i say! turn it into a post. here are a few tips, specifically for the muffster, but that hopefully you can all apply to your life in some form or fashion.

1. know the way your league scores and draft accordingly. know which stats your league will award and you'll know how to arrange your picks. lots of points for passing touchdowns? get a stud qb. lots of points for rushing touchdowns? get 2 stud rb's.
2. regardless of how your league scores, get at least 2 big time running backs and get them early. trust me on this one. unless you have some off the wall scoring system, you're fine picking running backs in your first 2 spots and then getting the best qb available.
3. pick your defense and your kicker near the end of the draft.
4. don't be a homer. who cares if you LOVE the cleveland browns if you get your ass handed to you every week because you drafted their whole team? be smart, draft by skill and need, not by team.
5. beware picking good receivers who play with crappy quarterbacks. derrick mason may be the bees knees, but do you really think he's gonna catch 15 touchdowns from kyle boller?
6. ditto the above when considering running backs with crappy lines. i don't care who you are, you're not running for 1200 yards if your line's nickname is maginot or if sports talk show guys refer to it as a sieve.
7. if you hadn't already figured out rule no. 3, go ahead and drop out. fantasy football may not require TONS of football knowledge to be fun, but you at least oughta know that much. it's the equivalent of knowing your (desktop) computer must be plugged in if you're gonna turn it on.

when pressed for time,

post pictures! this was my drive to work today, or at least the part of it that i found interesting.


ummm...my office is left at the next light, pull around to the back...









no, really...LEFT here!








oh well. hey, i wonder what's in that white truck. HEY! my office is...

okay, technically this wasn't taken on my way to work. it was just before i left for work. i thought everyone might want to see what they're trying to win. the shirt, people...you're trying to win the shirt. you've got 4 more days to get your playlists in...

hey, can i sitar?

all humor aside**, the weekend's activites did, in fact, include a sitar. it also included, in no particular order:

-the high dials (pictured above), who were as good as promised, maybe better. don't believe me? ask jill.
-lots of time in front of the computer and keyboard working on loops and things.(why? answers here.).
-the purchase of a new lawnmower.
-a few hours playing my new video game.
-a few hours preparing for my fantasy football draft and more than a few minutes trying to explain to the wife why i need not 1, not 2, but 3 fantasy football draft guide magazines (she wouldn't let me off with a simple, "i'm a geek. okay?").
-some time cooking with the wife, who treated me to a plate of pancakes, veggie bacon & veggie sausage in the morning and who let me help in the making of some garlicky greens and chickpea soup for dinner. if i haven't said so before, the wife is the most awesomest person i know. every dude who likes womens should be so lucky.

i also spent a few minutes perusing some of the entries for my contest. you readers are one eclectic bunch, i tell ya.

haven't gotten your entry in to me? you've got 5 days yet...i need a nap.

**if you say it like you're from east tennessee, the subject line sounds like you want to borrow a chair.

contest update/tidbits

brittney is my new favorite blogger (i still HATE that word). at least for the next few days she is. she has alerted the masses to my contest on nashville is talking. so far, i've got 5 entries, 1 record store catalog (thanks chris) 1 promised entry from the birthday girl. the rest of you better get the lists in before my ears fall off...

notes of a random nature:
-the high dials are playing saturday at the basement. grimey played me a few tunes the other nite at dawson's show. these canucks definitely get newton's thumbs up. swan dive has a cd release show at 8 and then this show's at 10. do both shows. get dinner in between. it'll be an adventure.
-okay, that's actually the only note i've got. i guess my fingers were bigger than my brain or something. good weekends to all...

calling it a habit's just a nice way of calling it a rut.

i'll admit it. i'm in a bit of a rut musically. not playing or creating it (GEEZ! didn't you read my last post?!?!), but in picking new, exciting stuff to listen to.

i need help. so i'm asking for it. 10 years ago i would've asked for mixed tapes. 4 years ago i would've asked for a mix disc...

today, i'm asking for a playlist. make me a playlist. give me your favorite playlist off your ipod or hp thing or whatever.

hell, let's just turn it into a contest. here's the rules:

1. give me a playlist (no limit on number of entries per person. go ahead and stuff the box.)
2. keep the playlists to 20 songs or less.
3. get it to me by august 19th.

i'll sort through and sample them all and then i'll announce the winner the week of aug 21 through email, on this blog and my myspace page (where i'm getting ready to duplicate this post).

the winner will receive a brand new, handmade (thank you billy mercer), soon to be officially released newton dominey t-shirt. it's happy and red.

you can post the playlist here in the comments section or, if you want to be super-secret, you can email them to me at info*at*newtondominey*dot*net. just put the appropriate symbols between the astericeses.

excited? i am.

ready...go!

things i learned

last nite was my first rehearsal (can it be a rehearsal with just one person? i gotta think about that.) with my new setup: noises&loops, keyboard, acoustic guitar, amp. all i can say is, someone needs to buy a power strip. i feel like the parent of a 2 year old: i've got SO MUCH STUFF for just one little person!

even after just one run through, i feel really good about the set and my ability to pull it off. there's some definite smoothing out to be done and some "oh shit"-ing that needs to be removed, but the nervous vomit to excitement ratio is starting to balance out.

anyway, to the title of the post, here's what i learned last nite whilst rehearsing:

-it's much harder to see the keys when there's a microphone between them and your eyes.
-drum loops don't stop just because you say, "dammit!" over and over.
-i can play keyboards/piano better than i initially thought.
-i don't hold a rhythm by myself (without a loop or live drummer) as well as i thought. oops.
-vinyl drum stool+poorly cooled music room (thank you fox ridge homes)+my ass=hiney sweat.

that's about it. don't forget: wednesday aug 17. the basement. me and my toys playing some rock and roll, opening for strays don't sleep and dawn kinnard. 9p or so. bring a friend. if you can't make it, send a friend in your place. good times, good times.

for those about to rock...here are the rules.

i promise i've got a real post in me today. in the meantime, shake off your wednesday blues with the following:

rules of rock - audience version

rules of rock - band version

don't say you weren't warned...

new(ton)s bulletin

break out the big red marker, kids. newton's got some dates to put on your calendars. some are very soon, some are semi-soon and some are in the not too distant future. ready? let's go.

aug 9 (yes that's tomorrow) - my good pal dawson is playing at the basement. rumor has it that i'll be playing with him in some form or fashion. grimey has threatened to whip his ass if there's not much of a crowd, so i'm trying to help a brotha out. things kick off around 9 and it's tooootally free. for the record, my money's on grimey if it comes down to it...

aug 17 - yours truly (that's me) will be opening for my super-awesome friends, strays don't sleep. the strays, if you've not seen them, are bad-ASS. dawn kinnard will also be playing. i had the chance to see her friday nite at garrison starr's show. in a word: killer. i don't want to over hype things here, but between the 3 of us, you're in for quite a treat. don't know the cover just yet, but i'd guess it's in the $5-$10 range. a bargain at twice the price. probably a 9p start. i really need all the butts i can get for this one, so tell your friends that the basement's giving away drinks or that the stones are playing a secret show. tell them anything you want, just tell 'em to get there. (note: the strays' new record is available in the uk through one little indian. i bought mine today. you can get yours here.)

aug 31 - my big trip to boston. i'll be playing with my friend amelia white who's doing her boss-ville residency at the lizard lounge. i'm not gonna be shy about this one either. if you have any friends or family up there (or if you're up there), pretty please come see me play. i can't find a good link for the club, but i hear it's close to harvard. ladies, that means it's a chance to meet a dude who's gonna make serious cash. come to the show, listen to some good tunes, meet a hot, soon-to-be-rich dude (or chick). what else could you ask for?

sept 17 - opening for mack starks at the basement. i can't tell you how lucky i am to be playing this show. mack's songwriting slays me. he's one of my top 10 favorite artists ever. yes, right up there with the boss, dylan, the clash, costello and kylie minogue. sarah siskind is playing as well.

it's taken me 2.5 hours to type this much because the man's got me working so much. i'll have more later. as always, you can get more updates and sign up for my real-deal mailing list at newtondominey.net. you can also e-mail me at info @ newtondominey net. (just be sure to delete the spaces and replace the dot, if you know what i mean.)

now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

bad bob novak

bob novak said a dirty word, kiddos. he said it on live tv. sure, you didn't see his nipple or anything, but i wonder why there's no big uproar here. wanna see what i'm talking about? click here.

wanna see what jon stewart's reaction? click here.

rip off artist

i've decided that all of my posts today are going to be of the "copy and paste" nature. i really like this blog and the idea of 5 randomish questions so, until they ask me to stop or someone tells me it's rude, i'm going to use them at my leisure.

Appetizer
Briefly describe your living room.
neutral. cluttered. dog-filled.

Soup
List 3 things you'd like to accomplish before the end of 2005.
play new york, again.
play los angeles.
have 3 "weekend" tours.


Salad
When you're online, what do you spend the most time reading/playing/doing?
lately, blogging or trying to network on music stuff. that and researching my fantasy football draft. seriously.

Suggest a site for us to visit.
the grand canyon. oh, you meant website? try this.

Main Course
What would the title of your autobiography be?
what i meant to say was...

Dessert
What time do you usually go to bed?
12.30-1 weekdays, 1.30-2 weekends. la-di-da-di, we like to party.

so right in so many ways...

can't say i disagree with this guy.

ten worst songs of all time.

what's a diorama?

God bless ralph wiggum.

i know how i'm going to spend the rest of my afternoon...

old vs new

random occurrences are so cool...

can we talk about music, please?

the astute blog reader would notice that i've spent more than a few minutes on nashville is talking and she said what?!?! defending the honor of her shesaidwhat-ness. enough, already. i wanna talk about music. we've got good things going on.

-for those of you who live in or near boston, i'll be playing with my friend amelia white at the lizard lounge on aug 31. it's my first trip to boston ever so, pretty please, tell all your friends, family, friends of family and whatnot that might live in the area to come out and see me. i'll give bribes if necessary.

-a few weeks back i had a bit of a personal (and public) crisis about not having a band. as i mentioned a day or so later, i've decided to move in a slightly different direction to hopefully seperate myself from the herd. that's been going really well and i'm learning tons (yes tons) about my abilities as an arranger, the hurdles i have to overcome and the fun that you can have with a keyboard and some spare time. i've been holed up in my music room for 2-3 hours every nite, re-inventing songs and working on new ones. the wife's starting to wonder who that stranger is who keeps eating her boca patties and sleeping in her bed, but overallshe's pretty cool with it. she also told me as i stumbled down last nite how much she likes what i'm doing. now that's love, ladies and gents! wake your wife up kicking the foot of the bed, get a complement on your music. damn, she rules.

-a wise, green, ugly midget once said, "do or do not. there is no try." keeping that in mind, i'll be debuting a few of these updated songs when i open for mack starks at the basement on sept 17th. i'm throw up nervous about it. why? because mack, and the guys he plays with, are some of my favorite musicians (and favorite people). you don't want to suck in front of people you look up to.

-i've recently purchased the new son volt cd. i read somewhere that you can't be a son volt fan and a wilco fan. horseshit. i like 'em both. not at the same time or in the same mood, but i like 'em both. this record, okemah and the melody of riot comes after 2 rather subdued solo albums from jay farrar and, while it doesn't break new ground musically, is definitely farrar's most political album to date. the guitars crackle, the snare drum snaps, the bass thumps, but the lyrics seem to seethe. if you like straight ahead roots rock, go buy this record. buy 2 and give one to a friend. take on down pass it around, 99 songs about beer on my car...stereo....

-speaking of good records, if you don't own marty robbins' gunfighter ballads and train songs go buy it now (yes now. have you ever heard of itunes people?!?!), and slap yourself on the forehead for good measure. i don't care who you are, you need to like this record. i want to cover big iron and el paso sooo badly, but i don't think i can do it without sounding ironic, sarcastic or campy.

-finally...in the next week or so i'll be re-doing my website. again. i don't mean i'm going to update it. i'm going to attempt to completely overhaul it. why not? i'm writing new songs, playing them different ways, thinking about music differently; why not re-do that while i'm at it? (sidenote: i've been known to bite off more than i can chew)

that's all. you can now resume talking about cats and dogs and the mass hysteria caused by them living together (click that link...there, dear readers, is a dude in SERIOUS need of help.)

point of order

i know this makes me an anal retentive grammar bastard, but:

it's you're welcome, NOT you welcome.

i'm sure that others out there have pronunciations (damn that's hard to type) or grammar issues that drive you bonkers. go ahead! get 'em out there! here's your forum. speak up people!