Gentlepeople of the UK spread your beautiful slime all over us.

Okay kids,

Couple things…In the UK, Buckingham and Winchester are SOLD OUT but they added a Sat matinee show in Buckingham, which is only an hour or so from London. Captain Chris Metzler also wanted us to mention London will be sold out any day now as well.

Dates have been a gas. In Spain, Dan Stuart took time out from writing his novel and joined us for a heartfelt but sloppy version of “Time Ain’t Nothing” in Barcelona. And the band played for the first time in Croatia.

We’re playing a San Francisco homecoming show of sorts June 18th at the GAMH with special guest Stephanie Finch who’s record “Cry Tomorrow” is coming out on (((belle sound))) May 19th. The Company Men (Stoltzy, Rusty, yours truly) will back Stephie.

But for the rest of you non San Francisco folks, this is the last chance Texaco, baby. Yessir, we’re closing in on the final lap of the “Are You Riding with Me?” TOUR 2010.

Me, I’m looking forward to sleeping like a human again. No more touring stress dreams for me. No more nightmares morphing into hallucinations of giant pterodactyls carrying guitarists off over the Alps.

No more, no more.

I’m tired of waking, afraid to open my eyes, in fear I’ll find myself playing in a snowstorm on an outside stage in Colorado with the flesh freezing off my face, unable to form a G chord, totally paralyzed (Oh wait! That one definitely happened).

Or learn of a volcano erupting in Iceland shutting down all air traffic, effectively stranding us on the European continent. (Oh wait, that happened too!).

Is there a cure for this affliction, I wonder? Ambien? Anti-anxiety drugs? Yoga? Duct tape? Pilates? It’s intense, vivid, real stuff: Exploding suitcases, disappearing drummers, guitar cables that lead down long hallways under locked doors, water rising up in the hall. The back door of the van left open, swinging in the breeze, gear spilling out onto highway 80, guitars churning under 18-wheelers.

How long will I suffer through the recurring nightmare where the band gets food poisoning and craps their collective pants? One bathroom in a club full of 400 people? God help us.

Yaa-ahhhhh-rrr-ggghh!

What can I say, I miss it already.

Hope to see you out there,

CP

PHOTO: keith corchoran