I'm on the bus right now watching the MTV Video Music Awards, and quite honestly, I have no idea why. Jack Black is kind of funny, but everything else is kind of ridiculous. We played Austin tonight, and it was a lovely show as always, so thank you Austin. I bought some more CD's and records the other day, this time it was the new Tom Petty, the new Bob Dylan and an Elvis Costello record. I bought it at a great record store in New Orleans, I love cities like New Orleans, cities that have some kind of indefinable spirit running through it, the city kind of feels alive even if no one is on the street. Benj and Fuzz and I went to the St. Louis Cemetery and it was so odd, the cemetery is so old, I saw head stones dating back to the 1830's...and it was smack in the middle of some housing projects and across the street from a Chevron gas station, so, it was kind of a strange juxtaposition. Something that is rather spiritual, sacred, and still sitting there, unaffected, for so long....hmm, I don't know. Is Black Eyed Peas getting on anyone else's nerves? Sheesh. They just won a VMA..go figure. Congratulations to Fergie and the gang.

day to day.

I haven't posted much recently, mainly because I've been feeling dumb, my brain has kind of slowed down for one reason or another. I'm still slowly moving through "Atlas Shrugged", I'm at the part when Hank Rearden is offered a blank check for his for mula of Rearden Metal...I love the plot twists....although, I do remember this part from when I read it last. For some reason, in the Ayn Rand books I've read, Gwynneth Paltrow always seems like she would be a good person to play the female role (Gail Wynand of Dagny Taggart) if there was ever a new movie made based on one of her books, well, with the exception of maybe, "We the Living." If there are movies made based on her books already, I haven't seen them. There is something about Rand's style of writing that I can't get enough of, she's so incredibly descriptive, but never cliche or trite, and she can always paint such a vivid image with words, more so than any other author I've read. In some way, the visuals she creates do a good job of not only setting up the scene, but the mood of the scene, the emotions, the thoughts, etc...of the characters invovled. In addition, I think there is truth in everything she says, but not with the extreme to which she believes, but perhaps I've already mentioned that. I watched that movie "Ghost World" the other day, and, "The United States of Leland"...although I admit, the only reason I watched "Ghost World" is because Scarlet Johansson is in it, and the only reason I watched "The United States of Leland" is because I know that Jeremy Egnik wrote the soundtrack (and Kevin Spacey is in it)...Rob is always raving about the music. Both movies were worth the two hours it took to watch them, Steve Buscemi was in "Ghost World"....score. Anyway, as I mentioned earlier and as you can probably tell after reading this blog, I have nothing to say, nothing of importance anyway. I also bought a Pink Floyd record recently...oh! and apparently Bob Dylan was quoted as saying that "modern music is worthless"...God Bless him, whether you agree or not.

I was recently reading some past comments you folks have made and I came across this one.

has anyone here even researched global warming or are you just accepting what left wing politicians are saying about it?
it's a hoax.
check it out at http://www.junkscience.com

and to that I say..."hmmm"

Yea, so you guys can check out www.junkscience.com, and then you can check out www.fightglobalwarming.com, or www.climatecrisis.net, if you want, check out www.uscaction.org

Means of preservation?

Hey everyone, today we are in DC, you know, Washington DC...and in this city, sadly enough, you can see the income gap very clearly, maybe it serves as a kind of microcosm for the whole of the United States. The other day, a friend and I were talking about the grammy's, and I made a quick scoff at the whole organization, and I admit, I wasn't really being all too serious, just being a jerk for fun, and my friend made the remark, "But you have to change things from the inside"....meaning of course, that it is better to become a part of an organization in order to change, rather than stay on the outside and bitch about it, and that is very true, and it is a very mature way of looking at it. Although, I got to thinking, and naturally, I will share this with you. When it comes to art, and specifically music, is it better to expose something you care so much about to the insensitive and indifferent vice grip of the industry, and the mainstream masses, or would it be better to leave it be and let the movement live and die on its own, existing as long as it's supposed to, free from manipulation and exploitation. Bringing a band, a culture, a youth movement into the mainstream current, I believe the intention and ambition is all well motivated, but how often does it go the way of the industry hammer, becoming watered down and more "accessible", and therefore making it a mockery of itself. Of course, there have been bands who have successfully navigated the turbulent waters of the music business and have been able to use its obvious resources to their advantage (ie. Pearl jam, Radiohead, U2, etc), but how many times has a movement been exposed and in many ways, and on many levels destroyed? The music industry has changed so much in the past 10 years, and now it is nothing more than a joke really, and how arrogant do you have to be think you can actually make a difference? Is it arrogance or courage? Obviously, there is this tipping point in which your ambition and desire to change things has to cross with the temptation of financial gain and even a priority shift in which you have a family to provide for, and your ideals have to take a back seat to survival. All we can do as a band is write music that is honest to us and hopefully it'll work out. People have often said to me that I'm living "the life", but I have to just say that is not any kind of secure life at all. While I am designed to do only one thing...play music, it's rather ironic that my well being depends on the subjective opinion of others, and how much is that opinion shifted by trends and market manipulation controlled by the same people who we have to do business with in order to get to a point in which we can live comfortably and provide for our loved ones. Quite an ironic predicament, and don't take this post for any kind of complaint about being a professional musician, I am extremely blessed to be doing what I am doing, and I thank all of you for the opportunity. I just want to be aware really, and not ignorant to the currents in which we have to navigate. Forgive my spelling on this post.

Baseball or bombs.

I went to an Atlanta Braves game tonight and payed $6.50 for a bag of peanuts...what on earth? How do they get away with charging that much for a bag of peanuts? All in all it was a fun experience, I got to see a couple homeruns, bought a hot dog, blah blah American past time, blah blah. It's a mode of distraction really...forgive me, some nights I would rather enjoy a baseball game than read about more children being bombed in the Middle East, or rising gas prices, or anything else that is gracing the headlines these days. Thanks to everyong that has been coming out to the shows, they have all been great..this tour so far is amazing.

Global warming.

Global warming is making my, and many others, life miserable. People need to stop buying Hummers and Escalades and get on board with the hybrids, let's go people, it'll help bring the temprature down so my kids (when I have them) won't have to stay in doors all day. The first few shows of the tour have been great, and the turn outs have been suprisingly well, so I want to take the time to thank those of you who came. Since I've been gone, I have started to try and read Atlas Shrugged, I'm a huge Ayn Rand fan, and I started reading Atlas Shrugged when I was in College or something, but I stopped and never finished it, so, I'm gonna try again. She has a wonderfully descriptive way of writing, and although I think her idea of individualism and humanism is a tad skewed, I think she points out many truths concerning human nature. It's a hard read, wish me luck.