mike watt + the missingmen


"2nd heapin' helpin' of 3rd opera tour 2012"

read uncle ray's tour preview




mike watt's third opera 'hyphenated-man'   mike watt +the missingmen



   people, I wanna bring my third opera "hyphenated-man" around the u.s. again cuz there's some towns I missed last time. fuck, we're a big land and of course I'm gonna still miss some towns but that don't mean me, my bass and my missingmen (tom watson on guitar and raul morales on drums) ain't gonna try to do what we can... yeah, doin' it. joining us from october three to twelve will be lite - our dear buddies from tokyo, much respect to them.

   now if you wanna, here's how you can help me, tom and raul get the word out about this tour before we even leave pedro! each gig below also has a link that goes to a pdf file that's a flyer for each appropriate date. you can click on the link (or right-click to immediately download) and then print this up so you can put these where you think folks interested might be able to see it and be aware when we're coming and where to we're gonna work this piece this fall. no pressure on anyone but if you're so kind to do so, we sure would appreciate it much and be most grateful to you - a big THANK YOU in advance - we promise to play our our brains out!



"2nd heapin' helpin' of 3rd opera tour 2012"

mike watt + the missingmen



read the tour diary!


friday, sep 28
tractor tavern
5213 ballard av. nw
ballard, wa
(206) 789-3599


saturday, sep 29
doug fir lounge
830 e. burnside st.
portland, or
(503) 231-9663


sunday, sep 30
a club
416 w. sprage av.
spokane, wa
(509) 624-3629


monday, oct 1
zoo city apparel
139 e. main st.
missoula, mt
(406) 529-6482


tuesday, oct 2
neurolux
111 n. 11th st.
boise, id
(208) 343-0886


wednesday, oct 3
urban lounge
241 s. 500th st. e.
salt lake city, ut
(801) 746-0557


thursday, oct 4
larimer lounge
2721 larimer st.
denver, co
(303) 291-1007


friday, oct 5
the waiting room lounge
6212 maple st.
omaha, ne
(402) 884-5353


saturday, oct 6
vaudeville mews
212 4th st.
des moines, ia
(515) 243-3270


sunday, oct 7
turf club
1601 university av. w.
st. paul, mn
(651) 647-0486


monday, oct 8
schubas tavern
3159 n. southport av.
chicago, il
(773) 525-2508


tuesday, oct 9
mickey finn's pub
602 lagrange st.
toledo, oh
(419) 246-3466


wednesday, oct 10
the basement
391 neil av.
columbus, oh
(614) 461-5483


thursday, oct 11
north star bar
2639 poplar st.
philadelphia, pa
(215) 787-0488


friday, oct 12
bell house
149 7th st.
brooklyn, ny
(718) 643-6510


monday, oct 15
black cat
1811 14th st. nw
washington dc
(202) 667-4490


tuesday, oct 16
dogfish head
320 rehoboth av.
rehoboth beach, de
(302) 226-2739


wednesday, oct 17
brighton music hall
158 brighton av.
allston, ma
(617) 779-0140


thursday, oct 18
valentine's
17 new scotland av.
albany, ny
(518) 432-6572


friday, oct 19
the mohawk place
47 e. mohawk st.
buffalo, ny
(716) 465-2368


saturday, oct 20
club cafe
56 s. 12th st.
pittsburgh, pa
(412) 431-4950


sunday, oct 21
motr pub
1345 main st.
cincinnati, oh
(513) 381-6687


monday, oct 22
union bar and grill
18 w. union st.
athens, oh
(740) 593-5060


tuesday, oct 23
zanzabar
2100 s. preston st.
louisville, ky
(502) 635-9227


wednesday, oct 24
the end
2219 elliston pl.
nashville, tn
(615) 321-4457


thursday, oct 25
the earl
488 flat shoals av. se
atlanta, ga
(404) 522-3950


friday, oct 26
the bottletree cafe
3719 3rd av. s.
birmingham, al
(205) 533-6288


saturday, oct 27
hi tone cafe
1913 poplar av.
memphis, tn
(901) 278-8663


sunday, oct 28
george's majestic lounge
519 w. dickson st.
fayetteville, ar
(479) 527-6618


monday, oct 29
fitzgerald's downstairs
2706 white oak drive bl.
houston, tx
(713) 862-3838


tuesday, oct 30
red 7
611 e. 7th st.
austin, tx
(512) 476-8100


wednesday, oct 31
the conservatory
8911 n. western av.
oklahoma city, ok
(405) 879-9778


thursday, nov 1
sol santa fe stage & grill
37 fire pl.
santa fe, nm
(505) 424-9637


friday, nov 2
crescent ballroom
308 n. 2nd av.
phoenix, az
(602) 716-2222


saturday, nov 3
vinyl
4455 paradise rd.
las vegas, nv
(702) 693-5583


monday, nov 5
the casbah
2501 kettner bl.
san diego, ca
(619) 232-4355


tuesday, nov 6
slo brew
1119 garden st.
san luis obispo, ca
(805) 543-1843


wednesday, nov 7
bottom of the hill
1233 17th st.
san francisco, ca
(415) 626-4455


thursday, nov 8
the new parish
579 18th st.
oakland, ca
(510) 444-7474


friday, nov 9
velvet jones
423 state st.
santa barbara, ca
(805) 965-8676


saturday, nov 10
alex's bar
2913 e. anaheim st.
long beach, ca
(562) 434-8292







a tour preview from uncle ray:



"CLOCKWISE IN THE FALL"


   There are the "W" rules of 'splainin' things and I looked them up:

   Who is it about?

   What happened?

   When did it take place?

   Where did it take place?

   Why did it happen?

   OK then: watt and his Missingmen are touring his third opera, Hyphenated-Man, again this fall from September 28th to November 9th in the states. Looks like the vaudeville tradition is in effect, where you go counter-clockwise in the spring and clockwise in the fall (start in the west, wind up in the west) weather being the motivator, and as I'm mildly dyslexic it might be the other way around-- anyway, look at a map of the United States and describe if you will a sorta ragged circle (with occasional double-backs) on the continent and imagine the weather as an ominous and capricious stray dog following your van with all the murderous indiffence of mother nature, who is not your friend. Hence the Fall Route. I think that's most of the "W"s right there, but the summation's gonna be a bitch--

   WHAT: is Hyphenated-Man, watt's 30 short-piece bucket of whup-ass opera (and it is one and you can fucking look it up) which he's played along with Tom Watson and Raul Morales for the past, I dunno, couple years if you count the time they spent crafting it, practicing it, getting it down, recording it, and serving it up what-- a fuckload of times? Math fails me and my interns died in an unfortunate treehouse fire, so we're going with a fuckload. They have played this a fuckload of times across the U.S. and Canada and the UK & Europe and now one last storming marathon windup back in the states-- OK, I think I got the WHY-- it is for the same reason watt keeps asking me to write things for him: he is obviously crazy. Look at the schedule-- if I'm figuring right, the 2-day 'break' is so he can fly from New York to Texas, fulfill his role as a Stooge, then fly to D.C. to resume the Missingmen gigs-- the astute observer will note that the first actual day 'off' for watt occurs four days before it's over-- and as it's between 'Vegas and San Diego, they being about a 5-6 hour drive apart, I figure he's got something lined up to fill the down time-- probably a side project.

   Which brings us back to Hyphenated-Man-- or Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Really. I used to drink with this actress who took the role of Martha in the play-- you know, the Elizabeth Taylor part-- and in the beginning she was scared shitless-- she had to get out there and whip that thing into shape in front of people by doing it. And doing it. And... you get it. By the last leg of the run she was fucking on fire, she had that Martha thing by both tits and was dragging it from one end of the stage to the other, slammin' it to high heaven for all the lucky gapers in the house, JUST NAILING IT TO THE FLOOR NIGHT AFTER NIGHT. Which is, I think, where watt and the Missingmen are with this thing. You, valued visitor to the site, owe it to yourself to check it out, this longer, tighter, crackling snakewhip thing, and you should feel deeply guilty if they come anywhere near you and you stay home. Remember the president we called Bush 41? That doink? One year he invited the Girl Scout who sold the most cookies to the White House and asked her what her secret was. She said "I look them right in the eye and make them feel guilty." Which is what the 'second heapin' helpin' of 3rd opera u.s. tour 2012' is doing right this second-- looking you right in the eye. Buy the cookies, sailor-- climb aboard. Guilt is a terrible thing-- not to mention the primary motivator of most of mankind. And there's this: you won't get to see it again. And probably not the fucking individual pieces, either, if the laying aside of the previous operas is any indication, and it is. He doesn't part out the sons of bitches like goner Fords on hillbilly lawns-- the whole thing goes away and then the retooling process begins for the next undertaking, if you will-- I have my theories about the motivations behind this-- low-grade OCD, superstition, mild autism, stubbornness-- all bullshit of course, but it drives watt crazy when I play amateur head-shrinker on him. "Every pitch has to be a strike, Uncle Ray? Every wheel has to get traction all the time?" he asks.

   "In the end, your only shot is to tell everyone, to blow the whistle on the nightmare. It will work for a while, no one knows how long. The worse the dream, the more demonstrative you must become. I took to the stage."

- from the novel Panama, by Thomas McGuane


   Which brings us to Werner Herzog. Lately I've been filling my pad with everything Werner has done that I can get my hands on-- the DVDs all have extras with Werner commenting on his body of work in that hypnotic Bavarian accent that snakecharms like a deep narcotic, and he keeps using the phrase "ecstatic truth" again & again. I don't know what it means but I think the last time I saw it was in some pad on the punk rock chitlin' circuit, watt standing behind Raul's kit throwin' down as he leans back and hollers to the void from some otherwise inaccessable dervish core, gone from here. That'll do.


   HONOR ROLL:

   Tom Watson (guitar)

   Tom has installed a fireman's pole in his pad and has had all the stairs removed and attached to the outside of his pad. He says gravity can kiss his ass indoors. I can dig it.

   Raul Morales (drums)

   Raul has recently built a twice normal size replica of a 1962 Studebaker Avanti entirely out of twisted Slinkys, using no tools whatsoever. Respect.


   CODA:

   I think there's at least a dozen years of tour diaries archived on this site. Can you imagine if Mingus had his cats keep a diary?


   ERIC DOLPHY:

   Yesterday Charles and I got into a fight over some charts he wanted me to write out. He punched me in the face and then I quit and we fought some more and then I did the charts and now we're in Illinois, I think. Found a dentist who was a fan. Had some good soup in a place near the gig. Wisconsin tomorrow. Peace.

-Uncle Ray





this page created 11 jul 12