sleepless nights

this weekend. . .

GRAND THEFT AUTUMN

12-28-2012 Santa Cruz, CA - The Crepe Place

12-29-2012 Sebastopol, CA - Hopmunk

12-31-2012 Berkeley, CA - Starry Plough

01-12-2013 San Francisco, CA – Gram Parson’s Tribute at Great American Music Hall

Folks,

A few gigs around the bend here to report. [Santa Cruz, Sebastopol and New Years Eve in Berkeley w/ Patrick Winningham’s Tender Mercies].

Also, Stephie & I will be there for the 11th Annual Sleepless Nights Gram Parsons Tribute at the GAMH in SF on Sat. January 12. This year’s show to benefit The Andreas Trolf Medical Fund:

https://www.facebook.com/TheBoldItalic/posts/361518170587983

Band Name Alert: If you’re considering calling yours “Neckbeard Telecaster,” it’s taken - by one Andreas Trolf. [More on band names in a minute]. Andreas got banged up pretty bad in a motorcycle accident and needs your help. So this year’s Sleepless Nights will hopefully raise some dosh to get him patched up and out of debtor’s prison long enough to strap his Tele on again.

And don’t forget, in January the Whole Gang ( Me & the M.E.) are in Todos Santos. That’s right, for the second year running, Peter Buck is putting on the Todos Santos Music Festival, a ten-day music event in Baja California (that’s in Mexico, I’m pretty sure), January 10-26, 2013. The festival will feature Alejandro Escovedo, Robyn Hitchcock, The Elected, the Baseball Project and more: The Mission Express will be present and accounted for the final night at a concert in the town square. Come on down. Three hours on a plane and you might as well be on the other side of the world. A hang and a half. Surfing, skin-diving, whale watching . . . dancing in the shadows (with or without a partner)...

More Details here: http://todossantosmusicfestival.com

****

Playing around with new song ideas, but mostly I’ve been eating food and laying around watching surfing videos on YouTube dreaming up new band names. Here’s a couple the Poetry Clown and I came up with: “People At Seminars With Nose Rings” or just “Seminar Nose Ring”. “The Metric Inches” - we’ll let that one go for cheap . . . for years Dan Stuart has had a hold on “Teahouse Pump”. Danny: your option’s almost up!

So, what else?

Had a blast in Cleveland at the Chuck Berry American Masters concert. Chuck was of course, elusive. No one knew if he was going to make the show, (he did, with a 40-odd member entourage including his wife of 62 years) and no one knew if he’d be up for playing (he did, and it was as weird and great as anyone could hope for).

Earlier in the evening, I was just soaking it all in when Darryl (D.M.C.) of Run-D.M.C, asked me if Chuck Berry was gonna play. And I was like, “I don’t know. I guess only Chuck knows. And Chuck’s a mystery man”. And Darryl says, “Yeah, he like Darth Vadar and shit.” And I was like, “You took the words right out of my mouth.”

And… One more time, Part II of the Temple Beautiful walking tour video directed by our main man Darrell Flowers is now up and running on the YouTube. Folks, there’s still a six-foot square portrait of Red Man in my rehearsal studio that follows my every step with his bright eyes. If you’ve seen him lately - he always said he’d never die - please call our tip line.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63YKaLRpZp4

Onwards,

-CP