I worked quite a bit of my three day weekend. Half-day on sat, and a few hours Sunday. The rest of my time was pretty relaxing, though. Saturday evening I spent with Angie at a friend of hers house, sitting in the front yard drinking margaritas. It was decently cool out that evening and, thankfully, the bugs weren't really biting. Then we went over to party that was squarely in the "eh" column. Whatever.

Sunday, after working a couple of hours, I went over to Kim's house who was trying to throw a last minute potluck. All in all there was only four of us, but we ate Kim's queso and the pulled pork that I'd had simmering all day while drinking (wait for it!) margaritas and playing the dictionary game (basically Balderdash minus the actual game). Afterwards I met Choo downtown and we went to Karly's bday get together.

I spent most of Monday sitting on the couch watching television.

OK, just one more thing this week before my head explodes and my entrails spill out all over my desk.

Tonight! 6pm!
Giant Haystacks, Flak, Camp X-Ray @ Sound On Sound Records

I'm totally out of it.

My favorite new tv show is Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel. Alaskan crab fishermen compete for the biggest haul in the deadly Bearing Strait!

There's another new article on Brothers and Sisters. This time in ATX Magazine.

This week I've been listening to Harry Potter audio books on my ipod at work. Contrary to expectations, this has made for some very slow days. I honestly expected it to make time fly. How wrong I was. That's not to say I'm not enjoying listening to them, because I am.

~~~~~~~~~~ it's gonna be a busy week ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Brothers and Sisters @ Stubb's - Saturday May 20
(Some kind of party for A&E. Yes, that A&E)
w/ Just Guns

Camp X-Ray @ Emo's - Sunday May 21
w/ The Arm, Cougars

Brothers and Sisters @ the Cavern (DALLAS) - Wednesday May 24
w/ Court and Spark, Pink Nasty

Brothers and Sisters @ Emo's - Thursday May 25
w/ Court and Spark, Pink Nasty

Camp X-Ray @ Sound on Sound - Friday May 26
w/ Giant Haystacks

Speaking of missed opportunities (or not), I got an email yesterday asking if Brothers and Sisters might like to open a show for the Violent Femmes on Thursday. Only problem was the email actually came in Monday evening and they need to know ASAP. I didn't read it until last night so the spot was already filled by the time I called back. Will is in LA until Saturday anyway, but we would've bought him a plane ticket back for that show. Oh well, it sucks that we won't be playing it but sometimes bad things happen to good people. Also, I learned a lesson about the importance of checking the band email account on a daily basis.

I'm at work on a saturday afternoon getting in some overtime. Since I now have a rough idea of when I'm going to leave this job for the year, I'm going to try to take advantage of all the OT they offer when it's super busy (like now). I don't have much discipline to do this kind of thing but an hour or two here and there can add up after a bit. And I need it to add up so I won't be stuck without any money at all. Since I'm going to end the season of my own accord, I will be ineligible to get unemployment like I usually do. The work for Trail pays ok, and hopefully B+S will make some money on tour (I'm not holding my breath). Then there's a pretty good chance that my job here will call me back for a few weeks in October when everyone files their extension returns.

Man, beard dandruff is the worst...

I ruled at kickball last night. It left me rather sore but not as bad as last time.

The show last night was great. We didn't play our best (that would be San Antonio last weekend) but the show was fun. There was a pretty good crowd and everyone was dancing and smiling for all the bands. I really can't wait for us to go on tour. I know there are going to be alot of lame nights playing to no one but I really think there are going to be some good shows, esp in LA and SF. First show is Aug 8 in Albuquerque (that's all I know for now.)

Speaking of touring, it looks like I'll be going back to Europe with Trail of Dead for a couple of weeks in July. Nothing is set on stone yet, but it looks promising.

Austin Music Magazine has a one-page article on Brothers and Sisters in the most recent issue. You can download a pdf of the whole mag on their website - www.austinmusicmagazine.net

Also, there's a rather flattering review of the album up over at americanaUK.

The internet firewall at work is a slowly creeping menace. I'm always waiting to see what it will block next. Now it has decided that livejournal comes under the heading "dating and personal" and blocked it. Sorry livejournal friends, I guess I won't be reading up in the intimate details of your lives while I'm at work anymore. Boo! Hiss! This is going to make interweb stalking so much harder!

I'm pretty tired today. I was only at home yesterday to sleep. I went straight from work to pick up a friend for happy hour dinner and drinks. Then we decided to go see Matt do his stand-up routine. He was very funny. All the other comics were not (ok maybe a chuckle here or there.) Stand up comedy is so weird. Everyone perfectly quiet in a room (basically a bar) listening to someone talk. It's ok after you get used to it but until then... Awkward. Then downtown to end the night with drinks and fries from Casino. Hence, I'm pretty tired today.

Tonight Brothers and Sisters is playing at the Parish. I have no idea what to expect in terms of crowd. We're playing with the Essex Green, who were getting pretty big 4-5 years ago then kind disappeared. The show was recommended in the Chronicle and the XL which usually helps. James Brown is also playing down the street, though, and I know where I'd be if I wasn't playing.

Wed May 10 @ the Parish
Essex Green w/ Brothers and Sisters, Belaire
9pm doors open
10pm belaire
11pm b+s
12pm essex green

The show in San Antonio went great. The club was very cool and was run by some nice folks. If ever in SA go to the Limelight. I had a hell of a time getting home, though. I left the club to go visit a friend who was in town and ended up leaving around 3:30-4:00 am. The drive home was going fine - I was starting to get tired. Then in San Marcos (normally about 20mins from Austin) apparently a monsoon hit. I couldn't see anything. I was driving 20mph on the interstate trying to get home. By this time I was dead tired and freaking out because of the storm. I pulled over in a closed, empty gas station for a minute but right after I got there someone pulled up right next to me in an empty parking lot at 4:30 in the morning. As soon as they started to open their doors I took off. This all seems like a dream now I was so out of it. To stay awake the last bit of the trip I took to singing songs to myself as I am now without a car radio after the latest break in (thank you to all the New Orleans crackheads who now call our city home.) I eventually made it home and passed out right away. Everything seems so fuzzy now when I try to remember it. So that is the story of my hellish drive home from San Antonio.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wed May 10 @ the Parish
Essex Green w/ Brothers and Sisters, Belaire
doors 8pm
show 9pm
we play at 10, I think.

I put up a few pics from my recent trip. Click on the Flickr badge over on the left and go to the set that's called something like "tour. austria and russia". More pics are coming. I have to resize everything before I post it and that takes a while.

Going to San Antonio tonight to play a show. Should be fun. SA on Cinco de Mayo. We have a few out of town shows coming up. Dallas on May 24 and Houton on July 7. Then in August we're touring the west coast. Mainly LA and SF but we're gonna try to make it up to Portland and Seattle. I think Albuquerque and Phoenix on the way there and Salt Lake City and (maybe!) Colorado on the way back.

Populare Mechanics has a really good article on the pros and cons of the different alternative and bio-fuels. I haven't read the whole thing yet, but it's pretty interesting. Did you know that Ethanol is basically moonshine (+15% gasoline)? The distillation process is almost the same as making corn-mash whiskey (like Jack Daniels, etc).

I don't know why, but I always feel the need to gloat a little bit when I hear bad news about Macs. I guess it's because I couldn't ever afford one.

The show went ok this weekend. More sparsely attended than I thought, though. I guess the 13,000 people who went to the opening of the Blanton may have made a dent. Thanks to the friends who made it out. I always like seeing familiar faces in the crowd.

Yesterday I just sat around. Jeff and Alicia came over to watch the Sopranos (we have cable!) and the brought their 4-5 month old son, Ohlen (not sure if that is the correct spelling.) It was very odd and nice to have a baby in the house. But really I guess no weirder than playing poker over at their house seeing and Alicia holding him in her lap while she cleans me out of all my money.