Stacie and I got home from dinner tonight to find 3 owls hootin and screechin (which may or may not be the name of an Earl Scruggs album) in the trees above our driveway.  We stood and listened for a few minutes and occasionally saw them swoop down and alight on a new branch.  I ran in to get a flashlight.  While I was away, two of them buzzed Stacie, telling her to back the F off.

Despite the warning, we kept listening, briefly shining the light up to see them.  One gave us the “no you didn’t” black lady head bob when we shined the light on it.  The other just kept swooping back and forth between the trees.

It was really amazing to watch/hear.  I don’t know why they focused on our driveway tonight, but they did. 

I heard a piece on NPR yesterday about a family from Mississippi who is still living in a hotel because of Katrina.  It’s a standard hotel, so you’ve got a bed, sink, shower, and toilet.  They have no closet, no fridge, no stove, no microwave, etc.  They have lived like this since the damn hurricane!  Before the hotel, however, they were living in a FEMA trailer, largely put together with materials made of formaldehide, and had to leave because the formaldehide was MAKING THEM ALL SICK. 

Evidently, FEMA is cutting them off next month and forcing them to find their own federal aid agency to help them further. 

I hated the 6 days we lived without power!  Imagine living without anything resembling normal life for 3 years!?

Today, I lisetend to “Man in the Mirror,” on the way to work.  Although it took me nearly 14 years to realize he’s not saying “no moustache could have been any clever,” the song made me think.

First, it made me think how it might be the best song on Bad.  Secondly, it made me remember a common complaint of mine, “Why won’t people fix the problems in today’s world?”  Then I realized that, I should be starting with me!

I’m talking to the man in the mirror
I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
if you wanna make the world a better place
take a look at yourself and make the change
sha-na-naaa  sha-na-naaaa na-naaa-na-na

Seriosly, though, I really wondered if I should be researching or studying these things, trying to fix the problems.  I’m a smart guy, not necessarily science oriented, but I could figure a few things out. 

I don’t know. 

After 4 long years of Veterinary School, Stacie has done it!  She was awarded a Doctorate of Veterinary Medicine yesterday and is now taking appointments at our upcoming shows.  So, bring your dog or lizard to get checked out.

do not bring your dog or lizard.

Congrats Stacie!

hey everyone,

bonnaroo is having a competition where a college band can win a trip to play bonnaroo. you have to visit our page:

http://www.ourstage.com/myprofile

and listen to our music and vote for it, i guess.

so let’s have it….put us on the roo!

I realized I haven’t been blogging as much lately.  This is probably because I (eric) have joined many other e-networking sites, which satisfy my need to dish internet style.  But I am so sorry to have neglected you, our myspace friends.  For example, did you know our myspace blog has had almost 27,000 total views since we’ve been on here?  that’s pretty sweet.

So, what have we been doing? 

First off, Stacie just finished Veterinary School, so that’s pretty exciting.  WE have a legitimate doctor in the band.  Does that make us old?  Probably.  We are no longer the teenage heart-throb band in town.  But who cares?

Secondly,  we’ve been starting work on new material.  So far it sounds damn good and I’m sure this next recording effort will be our most fruitful to date.

Third, we’re getting psyched for our East of the Missisip and More Tour, starting on June 11th.  We cant wait to see old friends and visit new places. 

So, that’s just a little of what’s been going on. 

We’ll have more updates as the tour grows closer and what not.

hope all of you are well.

Two guys just tried to break into my parents house, but my mom caught them and they ran.  She got the tag number and make/model of the car and called 911.  The cops caught the guys a few blocks away actually breaking in to another house!

These past few days, Travis and I have been driving around the state, increasing our carbon footprint, in order to catch Radiohead’s 2 Florida shows.

Monday: West Palm’s Show was the first night on their tour.  We had 20th row seats dead center.  The show was very good, but not amazing.  What was amazing, however, was being close enough to see their faces.  We saw when things went wrong (which actually happened multiple times), how they reacted to them, and their overall demeanor.  Despite what I have always thought, Radiohead has a great time when they’re playing music.  It was also cool to see how human they were in their mistakes.

Tuesday: Tampa’s Show was the 2nd night.  We had 3rd row seats stage right.  We were pretty much right in front of all the guitars on the side of the stage and had an amazing view.  This show was excellent!  They changed the set order and put in about 6 songs they didn’t play the night before.  The people behind us talked throughout the whole night.  I just decided to ignore them and enjoy the show.  Eventually, during the last song of the first encore, Travis turned around and told them to “SHUT THE F UP, WE’RE TRYING TO WATCH THE SHOW.”  It was pretty amazing.  The look of surprise on the guy’s face who was talking was priceless.  It really was a great show.

Here’s some video.
Radiohead in Tampa!
..

Radiohead in Tampa 2
..

I really love how Thom Yorke dances like the retarded kid at Chuck-e-Cheeze who wasn’t invited to the birthday party, but doesn’t know the difference. 

Well, we just finished yet another academic school year as Morningbell here in Gainesville and what a way to go out.  Last night’s show was really amazing.  Depspite the early techical difficulties (which seem to be happening alot lately), the show went great.

Now we have some time to collect our thoughts before we head out on tour, but we always have a certain sense of sadness when an academic year ends.  Friends leave town, other bands break up.  This has been a constant especially for the past 2 years.   But what can you do?  We just try to remember the good times, make new friends, and keep on keepin on. 

I also thought I”d take this opportunity to give everyone a little behind the scenes of pre show happenings.

Typically, we get downtown around 7 because prime parking is always available.  Then, we usually have to wait until at least 8 because most venues don’t start load in till then.  We’ll go grab dinner, most likely at Flaco’s or Big Lou’s (not sure why we go for heavy cuban sandwiches and/or pizza before shows).  Then, we still have tons of time to kill so we walk around downtown and see if we can bump into any friends.  We’ll check in at other bars/venues with the people we know who work there and sit around outside to stock up on fresh air before a night filled with unbridled smoke.

Then we load in, which typically is smooth, but can be a mess with 3-4 bands bringing tons of gear inside and trying to find where to store it.  This gets us to about 8:30, 9ish, so we still have tons of time to kill.  Maybe we’ll go get some tea or a drink somewhere else, but basically, it’s more sitting around and waiting.

Finally, when doors open, we wait around the club for friends to show up.

At the end of the night after you’ve all left and started going home, we have to wait for the venue to count the money and pay us.  This can last till well after 2:00 AM, which is just the worst. 

Then, we get some sort of late night crap fast food and head home where we eat, drink non-alcoholic fluids, watch some tv and talk about the show.

I realize this isn’t interesting at all, however, I don’t believe many non musician friends know how much down time is involved in putting on a show.

So, thanks to everyone for a great 07-08 year.  It was definitely one of the best ones yet.  Everyone have a great summer and if you’re anywhere where we’re going on tour, we hope to see you on the road.

I’m going to try and give the condensed version of this, so I’ll put it in timeline/quotes format

1. My mom suggests a baby grand piano for Stacie as a graduation present.
2. I find some Bosendorfer used baby grands in Atlanta for insanely low prices (this is stacie’s dream piano)
3. I call the guy, he says he’d sell it for the price listed online and tells me I can send a piano tech to check it out.
4. I hire a tuner to go out and see it, which he does last friday and it checks out, plays well, looks great.
5. I try to hire a second guy for another opinion, but that falls through, so I decide to go myself and check it out.
6. The seller agrees to take it “off the market” while my visit is pending.
7. Travis and I drive from Gainesville to Atlana and back on Wednesday of this week.
8. The guy I spoke with was out of town, so I talked to his “sales manager,” who agrees to meet us. 
9. The sales manager can’t meet us, so he sends his tech to let us in.
10. The “showroom” is just a shared warehouse, also used to store chinese products, furniture, god knows what, and a handful of broken pianos.  3 pianos are actually out for inspection, of which this is the only full working condition one.
11. It plays well, we leave, call the “sales manager” and tell him we’ll call him Thursday at noon with an answer.
12. Thursday at noon, I call this guy and the following ensues

Eric: I’d like to make an offer on the piano, will you take $x?
Douchebag: no
Eric: Ok, would you take $xx?
DB: no
E: OK, then, i’ll pay the asking price, do you want to send me a contract?
DB: well, buddy, i actually sold it this morning to someone else
E (I’m not exaggerating, I was livid): What the Fuck are you talking about? I drove 700 miles yesterday to check this thing out, told you I’d be calling you, paid a piano tech to check it out, you couldn’t even call me and let me know someone else was bidding?
DB: silence
E: I mean, are you fucking joking? You fucking sold the piano?  You couldn’t have told me this before I drove 700 miles to check it out?  How did you even sell it, you were supposed to have taken it off the market for me?
DB: well, um, hmm, umm, the woman who bought it hasn’t paid me yet, so if you want to offer more than she did, I could still see what I could do.
E: Like I’m going to give you one dime right now, what’s to say you won’t pull this shit on me like you’re doing on this woman?
DB: well, umm, ahhh,
E: you can go fuck yourself (slams phone down)

So, try adding about 230589 more Fuck’s to the conversation and make the setting my office.  It took about 10 minutes before my friend from down the hall felt it was safe enough to come in and see why I was cursing so much.

So, needless to say, I was pissed, but I’m glad I told him off. I’ve never felt so confident in a tell off as I did.  Plus, the conversation was at least 5 minutes, so i told him off long and slow.  I don’t think I would have snapped if we didn’t make the drive yesterday, which I think is a good thing.

Regardless, the drive wasn’t all that bad and Travis and I had as much fun as you can while driving through southern Georgia.

After the conversation today, I went to the Ocala Tractor Supply Co Store and bought some chicken feed while in my suit clothes.  I figured I’d try to fit in by starting every sentence with “Wellsir.”  It did’nt work.  But they did have life size plastic bull heads for sale.  I should have bought one.

Come to the show Friday night at the Atlantic!