October began with a four day band tour starting in Bend and Ending in Goble.  Goble? Yeah Goble man, check it.  In between we opened for Fred Eaglesmith in Tacoma.  Fred is unknowingly (now he knows) a great source of personal influence and creative theft for me.  I rank him high amongst contemporary songwriter types. He is also the ultimate do-it-yourself-the-way-you-want-to-do-it guy.  If you are unawares, check him out. It was a great honor. Boy that sounded lame. Also Chris Corbell put us on the bill for his cd release. Check him out!

Next Cougar (or the Tiger Rockets) and I made our triumphant return to the Arcata/Eureka area. We narrowly escaped an incident with the law in our rented Chevy aveo.  A car that was dipped in gay.  We saw them drop it in the vat and suspected a little might have splashed on our arms, so we took off each other shirts and gave each other a good loofa.  Kidding Cougar, kidding!

I’d be a fool not to mention Tizley’s Europub in Poulsbo.  Rob and Tammy are pumping some nightlife into this quaint Bavarian downtown.  I missed the ferry that night and slept in the back of the truck.  It was cold too.  I had to inoculate myself with several cocktails at a local karaoke bar.  I awoke with perhaps the worst hangover of my life that I can only attribute to declining Robs late night Schnitzel offer.  I was rendered useless the next day being barely able to make the drive to the taco stand.

I also want to mention a thing called “In the Round” that they hold at the Fremont Abbey in Seattle.  It is a cool event and the videos at the bottom of the home page are from that night.  Incidentally all these links are still posted on my calendar page.

A couple weeks later I shagged ass out east to play a couple gigs in VT and MA. Along the way I hooked up with Johnny Nighttrain, Knuckles Novo and some other key players.  I played a night in NYC and rode the Chinese bus to Boston. The Chinese bus has oh shit handles on the seatbacks.  The drivers pass cars like they are standing still.  There are no shock absorbers on the Chinese bus.

One night in the city after Nighttrain fed me a whole bunch of cough syrup to shut me up so he could sleep; I wandered down to seventy fifth and Broadway and saw the Rolling Stones coming out of a hotel room. They did not recognize me however.

I am going to cut this short and pick up in mid November as soon as I can.  It has been a great couple months.  I have met some great people and had some enriching experiences.  Check back soon for more….