“I’ll be in my basement room With my needle and my spoon And some other girl to try and ease my pain away” Paraphrased slightly from “Dead Flowers”, Jagger/Richards
It’s been in my head all day. I’ve been telling myself for the last six months that I’m going to learn that damn song. I still haven’t gotten around to it yet.
Saw Josh Jacobs last night. He came out to try and get the truck running better than an old lame dog. No dice, but we got to catch up on stuff and other things.
It rained last night It’s supposed to rain tonight We’re 158/750 done with harvest Yeah, I know it can be reduced. Piss off.
Had some calls wondering when I’ll be at Buster’s again. It’s the 26th of this month. I actually have heard of a friend of my parents coming from Arizona only for the show. I hope the scenery is good.
Don’t use an electric grinder on fiberglass above your head.
For all of you addicted to musicians’ weblogs, I would like to suggest Scott “Bignoggan” Copeland. Like me, he has a big head. He has a tremendously funny, though vulgar, weblog. Check it out.
No, I don’t wear flip-flips, but my sister does. Here’s the story.
I had bearing go out on me yesterday. The right, rear walker bearing. You know, the one behind the arm that drives the grain pan? Right. I’ve never been able to remove the race from that particular bearing without cutting it, and my sister, Megan, was conveniently available. I decided to have her watch for fire while I cut the lock collar and race off of the shaft. After the first blow of the torch, sparks flew as expected and I hear her say “fire”. I think nothing much of it, look down and see that it is currently about the size of a saucer and say, “Quick, stomp it out.” She replies, “But I have flip-flops on!”
About that time, the wind decides that we’re not having enough fun. By the time I get the torch shut off and jump off of the rear wheel, on which I had been standing, the wind had gusted such that the fire now not only consumed its previous saucer sized section, but it now was burning in a home swimming pool size area directly under the rear of the combine, not to mention that the chaff that had accumulated on the rear axle had also caught on fire. I was about to stop, drop, and roll over the fire, putting it out with my body, when I remembered the water that we had stored in the wheat truck that runs like a lame dog for when it overheats. We got the fire put out, but if the wind would have gusted once more we could have had an entire, uncut wheat field up in flames with only Megan’s flip-flops to blame.
In other news, I wrote more stuff yesterday than I have in the last five months. No, none of the lyrics include burning wheat stubble, fire, or flip-flops.
I’m currently finding it hard to find anything in life superior to Swiss cheese. You know why the Swiss have good cheese? Because they don’t spend everything they have on the military and fighting wars. We have shitty cheese in this country.
I’m testing the limits of my email box. I haven’t checked it in 4 days and I have something like 950 unread messages. If you wish to add to that total to bitch about something I’ve said here or anywhere on the site, feel free to contribute.
For all you automated email-collecting spiders out there, there is my email address for all to see. Add it to your collections, you heartless bastards.
I just had a shitty weekend. I managed to spend $100 while making $70. Perhaps I’ll tell explain it sometime.
I did get to hang out with my old band in Kansas City. They’re playing for Blaine Younger now.
Trevor and I played in Tonganoxie at Helen’s To the top of the hill After the fire department evacuated the bars in Tonganoxie Can’t handle the wind up there I never much cared for it myself
Today, for the first time since 1882, we humans get to observe something spectacular. Of course, what does Mother Nature Kansas have in store for us? Overcast skies. I guess my custom transit-watching apparatus made of welding-glass, packing tape, and my grandfather’s binoculars gets to be put in storage for eight years.
I love Rush Limbaugh Whenever I want to get pissed off In one of those “how the hell can he believe what he’s lying about” kind of way
He acted today as if he couldn’t believe why Clinton didn’t understand why he wasn’t asked to speak at Reagan’s funeral. Well, Rush, perhaps it’s because he’s one of the few people alive that did the same job as Reagan.
I’m about sick of all the press about Reagan. They seem to have forgotten about all the negative articles they ran about him during the 80s. People call Reagan the great communicator. You know what else he was great at? Arming terrorists and devastating the agricultural industry.
Where do I apply to become part of the homeless rate statistic? I doubt any of those people who compute the homeless percentage know that I am indeed homeless.
I’m also doing my part to increase the unemployment rate. By picking up this second job, that means that there’s some struggling singer-songwriter out there who didn’t get a job playing shows at nigt at bars because I beat him to it.
Must have been affirmative action.
Left Lawrence at 12:15am Arrived Sharon at 4:15am I bet that guy is pissed that I’m still alive.
Sitting here at Deiney’s in Topeka Last night was expensive Slowly becoming coherent Watched DareDevil this morning on Deines’s home theater Dumbest show I’ve seen in a while, as expected I’ll watch anything with Jennifer Garner.
Chillin’ this weekend with not only Mason but Michael Scott. I haven’t seen him in about four years. Good times He got me hooked on punk music I’m still a closet NOFX fan
Wedding today Then it’s south-southwest bound and down to Sharon
I hope the Hot-Wheels Mazda tour bus is where I left it last night Where did I leave it last night?
Wanna know what the sweetest sound in the world is? Too bad. I’m going to tell you anyway. It’s the sound of a Massey Fergueson 860 combine starting for the first time after a long, cold winter.
My father vouched for me last week. I guess I’m now providing the sound equipment for the 100th anniversary of the St. Boniface Catholic Church in my home town of Sharon, KS, on Sunday. Normally I would write something in my usual, malcontented tone; however, there is a bit of light at the end of this tunnel. My third cousin is (or was) Kim Traffas. I haven’t heard much from or about her other than she spent some time in Nashville. I recently discovered she’s singing at this anniversary shin-dig. My Google search for Kim Traffas turned up absolutely nothing, but top-notch googler that I am, I was able to find her website. Turns out she’s performing under the name Kimberly Dawn (The New Dawn of Country Music). I checked out the site. It provides some MP3 samples from her EP “I Gotta Go”. Normally, seeing that it was recorded in Nashville would make me immediately type something like “yahoo” or “msn” in my browser bar to get me away from the site as soon as possible, but because she’s family I not only stayed but downloaded the samples. I have to admit that she’s pretty good. I’ll be buying the CD. You should check it out.
I’m taking some time off of playing music during the week for a few weeks so I can go back and play with my combines. I’m going to try to start booking not only some solo shows but some shows with the band starting in August. We’re going to also begin work on a studio LP at that time.
Trevor and I played at Nestler’s tonight. We had a solid set. The offical final score was 3-2, though I don’t remember who won.
Never Been Caught (Where Rock and Country Collide) played after us and before the Mike McClure Band. It was a good show all around and I saw many people I hadn’t seen in a while. My family came up for the show. I don’t get to play for them very often and there won’t be another chance for them to see McClure for a long time.
We’re off to OKC tomorrow and then to Stillwater on Tuesday.
I’m going to go find a place to sleep. I’ll let you know what I come up with.
