Sarah Dandelles and Eric Ziegenhagen

Jason Toth and Sarah Dandelles

Not pictured: The elusive Geoff Buesing…

Eric Ziegenhagen with Jody Weinmann from the Nueva Cats, at Thai Linda on Roscoe in Chicago

• Ry Cooder Paris Texas soundtrack (the granddaddy of ‘em all!)
• Loren Mazzacane-Connors In Pittsburgh (Rian Murphy turned me on to this back in ’96 when we were recording my first album)
• A Small Good Thing Slim Westerns (which I discovered back in the glory days of Napster)
• World Standard Country Gazette (same thing)
• Bruce Kaphan Slider (which John W. turned me on to)
• Bill Frisell Ghost Town (an Eric Z. turnon)

The interesting thing about this list (to me) is that every single one of those albums is being marketed towards a different audience; they’re all supposed to be different genres.  Cooder’s a soundtrack guy, Frisell’s a jazzbo.  A Small Good Thing is supposed to be ambient or something.  World Standard is, I dunno, Japanese folktronica?  Bruce Kaphan is more along the New-Agey tip and Loren Mazzacane is supposed to be all experimental and shit.  But they don’t fool me.  They’re all trying to make different versions of the same record, and it happens to be a record I really love, so I’m cool with that!  Whoever they are!

Of course I’ve heard a lot of other individual songs by artists that would totally fit, but not necessarily whole albums… Calexico does that shit pretty well, when they do the instrumental thing and forego the drums and mariachi horns.  And the old Ennio Morricone spaghetti-western soundtracks and whatnot… now THAT’s a deep vein of material I’m sure!  I just don’t know where to begin with all that shit.

I was talking a bit about this with Eric, and also with Henry, the guy from Lanterna?  His music is kinda along those same lines — or rather, he has lots of songs that would totally fall into that same category but there’s no whole album that stays in that vein for very long.  So Lanterna’s a little too rockin’ to fit that mold all the way, but it does kinda help explain why I’d have a predisposition towards liking their music.

Alright, this concludes my very unacademic thesis on Ambient Country.  Questions?  Comments? Suggestions?

It’s not that easy being quiet.  I never realized until now how much talking to myself I actually do when I’m alone!  I keep catching myself saying shit when I’m puttering around the house… talking to myself or talking to my computer, or barking at the TV.  It’s even worse when I’m driving, I get pretty vocal!  Not quite to the point of yelling out the window, but I will definitely holler at the other drivers when they do stupid shit (and when I know they can’t hear me cursing at them).  I even talk in my fuckin’ sleep, how am I supposed to shut myself up then?

There were some phone interviews I was supposed to do this week for the next leg of the tour — Leslie (the press chick at Drag City) is helping me work around that by arranging to do them by e-mail instead.  Might as well, to be on the safe side.  I’m supposed to be working on that now, actually!

Eazy got me sucked into another stupid word game, called Word Sandwich.  He came over yesterday bearing a William Gibson documentary on DVD, so we had that going while I was on the iBook playing that confounded game, and he’s over on the Mini playing my favorite game WordPads.  Good times!  Eric is a fucking champion at all word games, i.e. he can trounce me at Literati.  So even though I’ve done really well on WordPads (~30,000) he’ll no doubt whip my ass on that if he spends much more time there.

Meh.  Kinda sucks that I’m sittin’ at home on my ass watching soap operas and playing stupid word games when I could be in Carrboro opening for the Joos tonight…!!  Oh well, what are ya gonna do.  Make more tea.

My pal Eric took this a few weeks ago, it’s nice ain’t it?  He’s got a sweet new camera too.  The self-critic in me says I look a little too cockeyed, and could’ve used a spot of makeup but whatever, I still like it, especially the colors.

Guess what… not that anybody cares but me, I realize that, but guess what?  My foot’s a lot better now, it’s been getting noticeably better every day THANK GOD!!  How long has it been, like two months already?  Well I’m walking almost completely normally again if I’m careful not to wear it out too much.  I think the trick was to stop wearing my Blundstones every day and start wearing comfy sneakers.  Duhhh.  The top part of my foot is the part that’s been hurting, so I just leave the laces real loose on that foot.  I’m not blaming my Blunnies for hurting my foot ‘cuz I’ve been wearing the same style for like six years now, but they weren’t helping it get better, that’s for sure.  It was pressing down on exactly the wrong place and just making it worse I think.  So I’m giving those ol’ boots a rest and using some ugly-ass sneakers that I think I bought in the Eighties, ha ha.  Whatever works, I don’t care.

OH that reminds me, guess what?  (Yes, another "guess what".) SARAH JOINED MY GYM!!  YAYYYYY!!!  I’m so psyched.  We probably won’t be going there *together* very often if at all, but it’s just great that we can kick each other’s asses to go at all.  And I just like my gym, so I’m psyched that there’s any possibility that I’ll bump into someone I know there.

Pitchfork gave my new album a kinda shitty review today (=yesterday), but fuck it, oh well.  They do make a valid point that the lyrics on this record are mostly on the very morose side, I would agree with that.  But I don’t think that makes it a bad record or anything, so that’s where we disagree.  Lots of people make breakup records all the time… hell, I guess I’m just lucky the reviewer doesn’t seem to have heard any of my other albums, ‘cuz they’re all the same way, they’re all breakup records just as much as this one is!  What can I say, it’s just my specialty, whining about my love life.  It’s what I do best, love it or leave it.  At least they reviewed it, I guess if they really wanted to dismiss it they wouldn’t have posted that at all.  I’m really not a fan of most of the stuff they rave about, so I guess our tastes are vastly different to begin with.  I happen to think sad songs can be kinda pretty!  Whatever.  I guess I’m just sooo uncool, and I don’t really care.

Speaking of CDs I finally got around to selling a bunch of old CDs at Reckless the other day.  I had two crates full that I’d been hauling around in the back of my van for literally two years straight!!  I was just too lazy, but I found myself parked right in front of there and went in and asked if they’d look at them.  They did, and of course a lot of it was crap they didn’t want (which I knew) but they took a good lil’ pile and I got eighty bucks.  Sweet!  I still have a crate and a half now, still in my van, so I guess I’ll be hauling those around for another two years… maybe they’ll come back in style by then and be Reckless-worthy, heheh.  Or maybe I should just throw ‘em in the alley, it’ll probably save me money in the long run via better gas mileage.

So what’s my OkCupid news of the day?  Well, I made the acquaintance of another musician who’s been really fun to talk to.  He’s a bit older and a whoooole lot more experienced in the business than I am, so it’s just been fun to compare notes and trade stories.  He’s the only other working musician I’ve met on there, and I think he got spooked away from there already so I guess it’s lucky I met him at all.  We’re just e-mailing a little now.  He’s really funny and has a great attitude.  He called me an ASSHOLE right to my virtual face, for starting to smoke again.  He’s right!!  I am an asshole for doing that, an asshole and a dumbshit.  So by saying that, he’s being a friend, and I probably wouldn’t tolerate being called that by anybody else for some reason.  I know damn well it’s going to kill me if I don’t stop fuckin’ around… it’s the only thing I do that really will kill me for sure, barring any unforeseen accidents or whatever, god forbid.  I have to quit, I have to! have to! have to quit right now!!!  It’s gonna kill me if I don’t, I know this.

Time to go to bed, I’ve got rehearsal in the morning!  Fun.  I have to remember to bring my notebook this time so I’ll know what the fuck to work on.  We were a little aimless about it last week but this time we have to buckle down for that show on Sunday.  It’s gonna be good, too.  My pals Grimble Grumble got added to the bill so that’s yet another reason y’all should attend.  It’s a bit of a steep cover for a Hideout show but man, it’s for Gary and we gotta take care of our own.

My band: Tom Millard (drums)

Other performances by: Tom Dunning & Your Boyfriends, Joe Cassidy of Assassins/Butterfly Child, Jacquie Krupka of Joie de Diva/The Plunging Necklines, James Dague of Scribble Monster, Tommi Zender of Trinkets of Joy, Thomas Negovan of Ver Sacrum, Eric Ziegenhagen, Stacey Earley, Dan Phillips of Zapruder Point, and Dag Juhlin.

www.hootnight.com

This is my fourth album and I’m extremely proud of it.  It’s taken me forever to get it out to you — my last album came out in 2001 — but I wanted this one to be really good, and it sure is.  I’ve already talked about the recording somewhat here on my blog, but for those who are new here, the album was produced by Rian Murphy, who also produced my first and third albums Calling Over Time and Wonder Wonder, and the EP Love Is Real.  We recorded about half the songs at Mark Greenberg’s studio Mayfair Recordings (with Mark engineering) and the other half at North Branch (with Mark and Barry Phipps engineering).  It was masterfully mastered in Phoenix (like yesterday) by Roger Seibel at SAE.

I’ll give a more complete instrumentation list later on, but for now, the musicians who helped me out on this album are, in alphabetical order by first name: Azita Youssefi (AZITA); Dave "Max" Crawford (Poi Dog Pondering); Emmett Kelly; Jason Toth (Manishevitz, The Zincs); John Hasbrouck; Josh Abrams (Town & Country); Lindsay Anderson (L’Altra); Mark Greenberg (The Coctails); Rian Murphy (Chestnut Station) and Ryan Hembrey (Manishevitz, Can.Ky.Ree etc. etc.).  See, we started out to make a very stark album, but… one thing led to another I guess…!

Tracklist time.

1) Emergency
2) It’s a game
3) What’s the use
4) A mirage
5) Playmate
6) My lover won’t call
7) Lucky charm
8) Larger than life
9) Just a friend
10) If it weren’t for the words
11) Stars fading
12) Good to know
13) Lovin’ you goodbye

Anyway, suffice it to say I AM SO EXCITED!!!  I CAN’T WAIT!!!  I’ll be touring to support the album too of course, but not until after it’s been out a month or three. Don’t wanna be on the road during the holidays y’see.

More tidbits later…

Also, earlier in the evening I ran over to Marshall Field’s and bought me something I’ve been lusting over for about six months now.  It’s a Levenger Pocket Briefcase.  Yep, I am a certified productivity dork.  I’m reading that book, I have my index cards, I’m making lists like mad, and now I have the perfect anal-retentive container for those lists.  So, even though I don’t really DO anything, I’m going to be completely and totallly organized at all times from here on out.  I’m going to know exactly what it is that I’m not doing at all times.  And now that I have my pocket briefcase, that’s it, that is the last piece of productivity-porn I will ever need to purchase.  Heh.

• Playing a really fun show with Eric @ Mother Fool’s in Madison
• Seeing the Wisconsin Dells for the first time driving around at two in the morning during off-season
• Bottle of wine at the top of the Hyatt in downtown Dallas (the one with the big ball on top)
• SXSW — seeing Michelle Shocked, Harvey Sid Fisher and the Ditty Bops, among others
• Seeing Mama, Lucie, Marshall, Lilly, Lindy, Mimo, Uncle Dan, Lee & Lisa… anybody else I forgot?
• My own SXSW showcase
• Feasting w/ Eric @ Golden Corral in Texarkana
• Back in Chicago, seeing Blackbird‘s Patty Red Pants at the Chopin
• A wonderful lazy Easter weekend with you-know-who, starting with an off-the-cuff dinner at Mi Tierra

Low point of our Austin trip: Taking Eric to the top of Mount Bonnell and finding a BUILDING under construction up there, WTF!?!?

Tonight (=last night) we saw the movie Heat at the Gene Siskel Center. Fuckin’ awesome — almost three hours long but I never thought about the time.

I’m all sick today.  It’s an upper respiratory / throat thing that started cookin’ up yesterday, causing me to wonder whether it was a very wise idea to go with Eric to the Dirty Rugs show at the Bad Dog.  But I went, and had fun, and had beer, and saw many friendly faces.  I saw Geoff play guitar and bass for the first time, that made me giggle!  Not because he’s a bad player (quite the opposite) but because it’s just amusing to suddenly see someone you already know pretty well, performing.  It puts you into an alternate reality which you may have been expecting but are never truly prepared for.  Eric played keyboards on one song too, that was cool.  Have I told y’all lately that I love him?  Yes I believe that I have.  Heh.

I’m paying for all the partyin’ now though.  Got no sleep what with the coughin’ and snortin’ and tossin’ and turning’, and now I’ve lost my damn voice too, pretty much.  It better come back soon ‘cuz I’m supposed to do a rehearsal presently for a show at the end of February, at the Beat Kitchen with Elia’s World Renowned Choirboy Jug Stompers, a cover-tuned variation on the Scotland Yard Gospel Choir.  I’m only doing a song or two, therefore the pressure will be low and the potential for fun should be high, for ME at least.  Maybe I’ll do a little Carter Family, maybe a little Jimmie Rodgers or somethin’, we’ll see.  I’ll figure it out when I get my dad-gum voice back.

What movies did I see?  OK: I’m not good at giving movie reviews but I think I can do the thumbs up – thumbs down routine here.

1) The Machinist – Thumbs up.  Saw it with Sarah and already talked about it here so I won’t rehash.

2) I Heart Huckabees – Eh.  Thumbs down.  Saw it last Sunday with my other Eric(k) pal, Erick B.  We agreed that it was too dumb, too feel-good, not a complete waste of time but in the end, pretty much just a buncha nothin’.  I’m sure it was a lot of fun to BE in that movie, and I guess it’d be great as an airplane movie or something, but I wouldn’t recommend seeing it in the theater.  But hey, it was a cheap matinee at the Davis, so I’m not really complaining.

3) Sideways – Thumbs up!  Saw a preview of it with Eric Z.  Came in with no expectations and really liked it.  It’s about two old college buddies on a wine-tasting excursion through California.  And I don’t know a damn thing about wine so if somebody like me can enjoy that movie, you’ll like it too I’m sure.

4) Primer – Thumbs up!  Oh yeah!!!  I saw it today (=yesterday) with Erick B. and we both dug it.  It’s not for everyone though, you gotta be a pretty much of a geek to appreciate this fully.  It’s a hardcore techie science fiction thing, my favorite, favorite kind of movie on earth.  But unlike most sci-fi movies it uses no special effects to speak of but just relies on great dialogue and a really imaginative, fucked-up storyline.  Loved it.  I would see it again two or three more times to try to figure out the stuff I missed the first time.  Erick and I both agreed, however, that in terms of fucked-up movies that might require repeat viewings, Memento had a better payoff.  But then, Memento cost a lot more than $7000 to make…!!  The fact that I’m even comparing those two movies says a lot about how great Primer is.

OK, I’m falling asleep now.  Thanks so much to all the pals mentioned above for being so good to go and fun to hang out with.  Not-A-Dates are where it’s at!!  (grin)