Eve of Deconstruction Or EagleEye Weighs In On Ahab’s Habit; Old Mad Joy Rising

   We are off on our first tour for Old Mad Joy this coming week. Which means we will be playing a lot of songs off of it. I don’t think we have ever been more prepared for the release of any record. Still, the nerves are a little edgy. The thought is that most of our fans have not heard these songs much. They will want to hear the old faves still. Playing too many new ones carries the risk of alienating the audience. So, each night I am thinking of perhaps doing maybe 4 or 5 of them. The band wants to play all of them every night because they are new. We haven’t had new songs in so long. It’s like getting new panties. Ya just wanna run around in’em and look at’em and show’em off. But, your old panties were so loved by so many, they want to see those old tighty whities still.

“Come on, go put’em on and let us see those old, dusty undies!” they shout.

“But, I got these cool new ones, they have purple trim and orange laces dude, and look at the seams, awesome support down there, eh?” you retort.

“Nah, those ain’t as good as those old ones!” They yell back, insisting that you put the old ones on yer reluctant ass. We want to avoid that situation. 

   Keith came by this morning with gobs of vinyl and posters to sign for these bundles we are selling on the web site. I discovered that we have a dark album cover that is not very conducive to writing on with a marker. We were thinking it was a silver marker terrain. But, I found some good spots for the black ink though. It didn’t take too long. But, we had to unwrap all the records. Keith piled the spent coverings on top of my Halo Risk game still in progress from last night. My six year old was kicking my ass though so all the better that it was corrupted by this ridiculousness. Haha. Keith, bless his heart, was on a mission to go around to everyone’s houses to get their autographs on the stuff before lunch. I bid him good luck and he was on his way. He left all the rubber bands and sharpies though. I reckon he’ll make do, being the productive, resourceful chap he is. 

   Just as he was leaving Thenotoriousmark and Eagle Eye Williamson arrived with the van to get my stuff on their way out west. Eagle Eye is opening most of these shows for us. He is a unique one man band operation that you have to see and hear. He has some great songs. I love his voice most though. We’re all looking forward to having him along for the ride out in Cali. I must say though that he has more gear than I thought he would. He carries an amp, kick drum, hi hat and a couple of guitars. To say the Gourds’ van is packed tighter and heavier than ever is an understatement. I mean that rig is F A T!

Stubb: “Aw, come on, Mr. Starbuck, you’re just plain gloomy. Moby Dick may be big, but he ain’t THAT big.”

Aye, but he is THAT big Mr. Stubb, whoever you are. 

   Alas we were able to squeeze it all in like some massive metallic kolache filled with gas, oil and rock n roll band. I gave them some tacos and coffee and they were off like a prom dress, headed for El Paso.

“Flooded road out of town, call and the telephone lines are down, call and the lines are down!”

Oh, if only the roads were flooded all the way to El Paso. Dream on rain dreamers of the dusty southern plains. Not even Hurricanes will visit you, now that everybody knows yer on fire.