July Catch-Up

I can't seem to get my bandmates to write in this blog, so it's all on me. Here's a recap of last month's shows. August schedule is fairly light, so I'll be making a concerted effort to post show-ly updates!


July 4 - Summerfest, Milwaukee, WI

We hadn't played at this festival since 2004, and were honored to be bumped up from the teeny no-name stage to the monstrous Miller Light stage. Unfortunately the sound blew, but we had a good time regardless. Zach broke the confines of parole and joined us all the way from Florida, so that was an awesome bonus. Caught some Phil Lesh after our set and then hit the road to make some headway toward Des Moines.




July 5 - 80/35 Festival & People's, Des Moines, IA

80/35 was a cool little festival in downtown Des Moines. We were tired from a long drive, but had to step it up when asked to play a last-minute post-party at People's down the street from the fest. So we ripped out two shows in one day and had a great time with the Des Moines crew.


July 11 - Vaudeville Mews, Des Moines, IA

Back in Des Moines less than a week later. Probably our best Mews show to date. We broke out Tom Petty's "American Girl" for the first time, even though it wasn't fully ready, but the crowd was great and we wanted to give 'em something to remember. We amazingly didn't fuck it up too bad. :)


July 12 - Camp Euforia, Lone Tree, IA

We got up waaaay too early for our 1:30pm slot at Camp Euforia, arriving to find out they were running about 2 hours behind due to some rain. Great. I made it through the morning by guzzling some Miller water. (Seriously, canned water?!) Check out some youtube footage from the fest.



July 17 - Majestic Theater, Madison, WI

Night #1 with Fat Maw Rooney. Our manager, Mike, came up for the show and that was fun. We ripped out "Young Lust" which we hadn't played in awhile, and, so we were told, "melted some faces." We also "miracled" some good fans with free 10KLF tickets. Fat Maw Rooney raged it, while my bandmates got somewhat trashed.



July 18 - Miramar Theater, Milwaukee, WI

After a nice and greasy breakfast with Mad-fans Matt and Dave, we made the short trek over to Milwaukee for night #2 with Fat Maw Rooney. Another great Wisconsin crowd. Split right after our set to get started on the drive to Ohio.


July 19 - Tabfest, Mendon, OH

Got a late start due to Adam setting his alarm for the completely wrong hour (nice one), but made it to the fest basically on time. A little bit of rain, but nothing major. We hung out for several hours, checking out Charlie Hunter and some Fareed Haque. Once again, bandmates proceeded to get retarded and I drove them back to the hotel. Thanks to Scott for the YouTube vids from this show.


July 23-26 - 10,000 Lakes Festival, Detroit Lakes, MN

Played a mean set on the Barn Stage on Day 1. Revisited "The Humpty Dance", and added the 3rd verse, which I only mildly screwed up. Crowd was awesome! Spent the rest of the weekend hanging out and checking out some other music.


I also played with the Everyone Orchestra, which this year included some notable peeps like Jason Hann and Michael Kang (from String Cheese) and the world-renowned guitarist Steve Kimock. After the set, Steve inflated my ego by telling me he loved my tone and playing, and that he "fell in love with me 100 times" during the set. He then handed me a small green rock crystal and said, "Put this on your windowsill, and when you're doing the fuckin' dishes, you can say, 'Oh, that's pretty!' instead of 'Oh, this sucks!'"



That's it for July! Stay tuned for August, at some point....

Elephants, Friends, and He-Man.

I first heard about the duo EOTO “E-oh-toe” (fun little reading-break-game; try saying “duo EOTO” as fast as possible. For shared enjoyment, gather with some friends and a punch bowl of your choice, and see who can say the phrase the quickest. A stop watch is recommended if circumstances permit.) at last year’s 10,000 Lakes Festival, while chatting with Michael Travis (drummer, String Cheese Incident) about life after cheese. EOTO, for you who don’t know, is Michael Travis’ and Jason Hann’s (percussionist, String Cheese Incident) dance music project. And so, to cut a potential long introduction short, last night I actually got to see them perform, as we opened up for them at the “High Noon Saloon” in Madison, WI. Our set was short but sweet, and there were a lot of new and old friends showing up to support. Speaking of old friends, I’d like to acknowledge our good buddy Zach (Oshkosh, WI crew), who’s moving to Florida this Friday. Last evening he shared one of his most recently acquired, and if I may be so bold and say highly fundamental, pieces of knowledge with me. Are you ready for this??? He’d just found out that the actor Dolph Lundgren (from such classics as "Rocky IV" (as Ivan "I must break you" Drago), and "He-Man – Masters Of The Universe") is Swedish! The outcome of Zach’s new enlightenment is that he now respects me just a tad more. What can I say, I’m deeply moved.

Today’s Swedish Lesson:
Elefanter Bara Pratar Ibland = Elephants Only Talk Occasionally