Eat it, Player 25.

After tonight, I plan/hope to be done with all lead vocal tracks on the record. Which should mean that only a handful of instrumental tracks stand between me and being done with all the recording that I am personally responsible for. So then my role gets to be purely one of supervision, which is a lot less stressful. Leah has been really amazing and flexible this week, giving me an ample amount of evenings to be in the studio. We're almost done, I'd say 75-80%. Maybe more, maybe less. Soon comes the mixing, which is a fairly tedious and stressful endeavor. Matt is a seasoned professional, though, and the more we work together, the more he knows how to make me happy. So I'm optimistic about mixing being pretty easy going this time around.

The last two shows we've done in Austin have been pretty discouraging. The first one was at the Mohawk with Fastball, which would've been amazing (great venue, great bands) if it hadn't been colder than a yeti's taint. The Mohawk is an outdoor venue, and one of the city's coolest, but not built with awful weather in mind. So the show had a small and shivering crowd, and we could barely feel our hands to play our instruments. It just wasn't as fun as I wanted it to be.

The last show was a sold out show at Antones with The Lemurs (who were fantastic). There were five bands on the bill, which in my opinion is always 2 too many, so of course the show was rushed to keep on schedule and we were not afforded the time for a sound check. Not even a line check, actually. We were basically thrown on stage and told to go, we didn't even know if all the mics were on. Before it seems like I'm being a diva, I should point out that that isn't typical of Antones which is an amazing venue, with (typically) amazing sound. It wasn't the sound guys' fault that everything was so rushed, but it still sucked for us. I think everyone still had fun, but everyone knew that it didn't sound like it should've.

Before the show, a guy told us that he was more excited about seeing us than he was about seeing U2. I feel really bad about disappointing that guy, because I know we must've. If you are this man, please contact us, we'd like to make it up to you.

I made bad decisions when making the setlist, too. Lessons learned.

Because I know people love voting...

Austin has more than its fair share of musical accolades. One of the cooler ones is The Roaries. This year, we've been nominated for 4 of them, Best Band, Best Single ("How Do You Do It?"), Best Album (Songs For Staying In), and Best Male Artist (me).

We'd really appreciate it if you could take the 20 seconds it takes and vote for us. These types of things help raise our profile in the scene which helps us open doors.

I've been wanting to re-skin this blog, but haven't had much time/inspiration. If anyone else has ample amounts of either of those things, let me know.

29.

I really want to write a blog about how thoughtful and amazing my wife is, but I've not yet been able to word it in a way that I feel does her justice (I've started over 3 times now).

Suffice to say that she is the best thing that ever happened to me and she understands me and loves me and I could not reasonably ask for anything more in a partner.

I turned 29 yesterday, at roughly 5:30 AM. Leah wanted me to make a list of 29 things I've accomplished. Cute idea, but I don't know that I've accomplished 29 things of importance. I guess I should think back about all the things I wanted to do when I was younger and mark off the ones I got done. Here goes...

1. Worked at a comic book store.
2. Worked at a toy store.
3. Worked at a pet store.
4. Played music in public (church).
5. Played music at a bar.
6. Learned to use 4 track recorder.
7. Found and bought issues #21 & #155 of G.I.Joe (Marvel).
8. Made a full length album.
9. Got signed by record label.
10. Managed to get off record label.
11. Went on tour several times.
12. Got passing grade in college course by (indirectly) threatening teacher.
13. Had sex with beautiful woman.
14. Made beautiful baby.
15. Married beautiful woman.
16. Grew beard.
17. Heard myself on the radio.
18. Saw a lot of the country.
19. Lived in a different state for a year.
20. Worked with kids.
21. Attended Star Wars convention.
22. Stayed up past midnight.
23. Bought a sword.
24. Ate sushi.
25. Owned pet rats.
26. Survived car wreck.
27. Lost 20+ lbs
28. Finished Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows in one night
29. Camped out for movie tickets (Star Wars)

There. That was a lot harder than you might think. I'm not sure if the word "accomplishment" caries the right connotation, but there's a list of 29 things I wanted to do or was scared to do, but I did and things turned out golden. Now I need to start thinking about Leah's birthday.

When I was young, I couldn't stand them, but at 28, I can't get enough of those Reese's peanut butter candies.

After seeing The Fountain, I swore I would never see another Darren Aronofsky movie, and I've held strong. But now he's directing the new Wolverine movie. I love Wolverine, even though the last 2 x-movies were sub-par, so now the question just becomes "Do I love Wolverine more than I hate Darren Aronofsky?"

I'm sure I'll probably see it, if for no other reason than the fact that even a blind, deaf, mentally handicapped squirrel finds a nut from time to time. If it gets great reviews from people I trust, I may see it in the theatre even. Especially if the reviews say things like "very un-Aronofsky" or "a real departure for Aronofsky" or "Finally an Aronofsky film that's not soul-crushingly pretentious and boring." Something like that.

Anyway.

March is looking like the craziest month ever. It always is, if you're a musician in Austin. The South by Southwest music/film/interactive festival rolls in and takes over the entire town. Every place of business with electricity becomes a live music venue. For better or worse, it's a big part of what makes this city what it is. I can't see a festival like this flourishing in any other city the way it does here, not any city in the south least ways. I always go into the festival with equal parts excitement and dread. I'm looking forward to it, but I'm also looking forward to being done with it.

The week before the festival, we've just booked two more shows with Bob Schneider at the Houses of Blues, Houston and Dallas, respectively. I'm really looking forward to those. We've always had a great time with Bob and the Houses of Blues are the best venues in the world.

At the end of March, Leah, Harper, and I are going to Canada to visit family. Leah and Harper are going 5 days earlier than me so they can see Leah's sister as long as possible. I'll be hanging out at the house alone. Probably bored, probably naked. OK, I'm kidding about being naked....or am I? Now you don't know where I'm coming from. In all seriousness, if there is still recording to be done, I'll probably spend all my time at the studio, and get in bed early every night.

How do we KNOW climate change is true?!

One day, Harper may come to me and ask, "Why does life seem so unfair?"

To which I will reply, "Because sweetheart, sometimes you spend your entire childhood saying 'Nerf should obviously make swords' and they never do...until, of course, you're almost 30 fucking years old and it's no longer appropriate for you to buy them and even if you did, none of your friends will go along with it, so you'll have no one to play with anyway."



That is why these things fill me with a unique mixture of frustration, jealousy, and awe.

Hey Nerf, way to miss the obvious for decades at a time. Bunch of circus animals.