I now know two Leroy's

If selling shit on Craigslist was a sport, it would be both wise and accurate to called me Michael Jordan, Pete Rose, or Jim Thorpe. I decided today to huck some various musical items that I simply don't use anymore. One of these items was a little digital 4-track. The gentleman who came and picked it up was named Leroy Radcliffe. Turns out he played in The Modern Lovers, a band I'm quite fond of and listen to their record all the time. He also played for Todd Rundgren, and the Chartbusters to name a few. I gave him a copy of Suffer City and we ended up shooting the shit for a bit. We spoke of our co-admiration for recording on analog tape and Fender Telecasters. He told stories about producing one of the Real Kids records and opening for Jimi Hendrix while I told him about how one of my guitars was in an explosion and how one time i caught a knife that had been thrown at me with my teeth. Had to make up the latter story in an attempt to balance it all out, but at one fine moment we both acknowledged each other as cool guys. He instinctually gave me advice as a young artist, easily reading me and my situation to the best of his experienced ability. Seeing that one of my eyes twinkles with blood shot optimism and the other is trying its best to ignore the grey hairs that keep popping up in my beard and skull. He said to me, "pump out the shit and don't judge it. Don't worry what people are going to think of it". I'm glad this wasn't my long overdue sex talk as I fear that statement taken out of context is brash, scary, and confusing. We promised to keep in touch and it was an honor to meet him. My only regret is that I didn't smoke a joint with him on my roof. I feel like I may have heard the expanded version of Brian Jones teaching him the right way to play some Rolling Stones song story if that had happened. I'm also now proud to announce that I know two Leroy's who both go by Lee and are both awesome. Here's some of their finer work...

Transmission

I need a new transmission in my car, and we're playing these shows with Against Me!...




-Danny

The Lollipop Gang meets Separation Anxiety

My amp is warming up so I thought I'd warm you up.

Fucked up my back at work yesterday. Came home and rested and wrote a new song. Got a good night's rest and woke up and grabbed some grub at the farmer's market. Yum. Headed to Amoeba Records in search of this Tom Petty documentary. No luck so I picked up some vinyl. The Plimsouls, and Julian Casawhatever from the Strokes solo record. As I was leaving my car started fine but wouldn't move when I shifted into reverse. I dicked around calmly as one does when he or she isn't quite ready to deal with this type of weekend goose. Then I called AAA. I was in the garage and the tow guy couldn't get in. He called his co-worker who was in a pickup truck and we pulled all sorts of shenanigans getting it out. He ended up just pulling me out with a big chain and I stayed in the car to steer. It was weird. I was graciously pleased at how both Jose's didn't judge me for needing a lollipop to shift my car out of park. It's been like that for about a year now. Not really sure why. Took it to my mechanic/angel Eddie a while back and he says to me, "I can fix it and it will be expensive, or you can use this little lollipop to unlock the secret snowman button that's hidden in all automobiles in case this type of thing ever happens." Not a direct quote but needless to say I chose the latter. Anyways Jose's got a kick out of it. They almost respected my decision to do this instead of fixing it. By the way they really were both named Jose, I'm not being white. Jose #1 dropped me and my car off at Eddie's and had a delightful series of conversations including how nice it was outside and if it would be worth it to replace my transmission. I hitched a ride with Ronny Perkins and George Applebee back to koreatown.

The baby dog that lives above me squeals a lot and today is no exception. I'm always a little conflicted when it happens. It's always a combination of "I hope that poor thing is ok, should I save him?, and shut the fuck up you stupid little fuck get a life". The 3rd one only peaks in on instinct, dick human emotion. On my way up from throwing in a load of laundry I see this power walker lady who lives upstairs and one door down. She's always telling me things as if she's exposing some kind of scandalous secret where she cups the side of her mouth and whispers things like, "the dryer in the middle never works...ever". She says "oh you have the barking puppy above you" and I say "is he ok?" and she says in a manner as if she were about to tell me its owner beats it with a steak knife, "separation anxiety, it's just separation anxiety. He'll be fine, he'll be fine." So I guess I'm just glad it's ok and not being tortured by Dr. Phil or Gary Glitter or something.

So it's the freakin weekend, and I'm trapped inside with a bum back, no car, and a squealing puppy above me. None of these things would be much of a nuisance if I were dead so I've decided that none of them are. I have ginger ale, I have my guitars, I have a few beers, I have some records, my amps warmed up smack ya butt for me.

Danny

And so it begins

So Joe Sirois is officially our new drummer. Went out for wings last night and sealed the deal. We couldn't be happier about this. We play our first show with him in December and it's a very special one, details to come.

I turned 27 the other day, weird. I got some awesome gifts including; a george foreman grill, a snuggie, 2 books, 3 vinyl records (Tom Petty, ZZ Top, Dead to Me), and a slim jim.

Had our last show with Phill in Boston and it was a blast. Played to 700 people and it was an awesome crowd.

Spending time with friends and family back on the east coast was such a nice reset. We're back in the swing of things and starting to piece together a formal relaunch of the band. This weekend is likely to include a trip to the race track, intense rehearsal, and new band pics with the new lineup!

Joe and I went to see Devo last night. They sounded fucking amazing. They played Freedom of Choice in its entirety and Josh Freeze is a machine. Got a little claustrophobic at the end and had to bail. I was getting the sweats and started seeing things.

I just got the new Dead to Me record today and I can't wait to hear it on my ride home. I decided to listen to the Shods all day today.