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from mike baggetta regarding this "aki tour 2023" by mssv:
"aki tour 2023"
tour diary
 the wrinkling brothers up at nine and I hobble over using my crutch (one crutch but it's safer this way) to be right in front of georgie who's kicking up MUCH dust on his drums - that premier set he got in the last days of fIREHOSE, crimony! love this man much. next to him his tenor man vince meghrouni blowin bitchin toots, bof cats joining band boss joe dean on the bass really REALLY good, love their set and am really inspired. what a way to start off a tour!   we hit at nine and half and I fucking clam the first note of the first tune - can you believe that shit? the horror... the horror... I recover and we do good. trippy working a gig in a chair like this but I gotta be careful. I did a few tunes at the whisky-a-go-go up in west hollywood and 'pert-near fell of the fuckin stage there, I shit thee not! mike says it's ok and damn if hodge ain't sitting also (like most drummers) so actually in the minority here! the gig-goers are really kind to us, real supportive. I blow more clams, some bass ones and some spiel ones... shakedown cruise stuff cuz of nerves but damn me still. I will rally tomorrow hopefully.  brother matt gives me a big giant hug when we're done - we'll see him in atascadero next week. brother steve reed's here too - we got a new proj we've done about six ninety minute jams so far, it's just him on drums and me on bass and the plan is we bof sing at the same. it's called _steel sense_ and I'm really into it. me and him go way back, him doing buttloads of tours w/me working the sound in the 90s, love him much. he told me the set had him in tears, whoa. my sister melinda's here, so glad and am so grateful to all she's helped me, especially during this 2023 year. some young lady shows my a photo her ma gave me - her ma was two years ahead of me at san pedro high (me, d boon and georgie were class of 1976) and this is me in the tenth grade - I look like a fucking idiot. crimony. skipper jeff here's - so good to see him... he says he shoving off on the twenty, taking his sailboat to mexico to retire - maybe not back for how long? maybe a long time? I will miss him so much, truly. get back to my pad and konk quick cuz of being beat. tour is on and I am out. lucky to find a parking place out front soon as the idiot w/his lights on gets done using his leash to waste how much time of his life? too much. am so glad he finally manned up and moved on. thank you. thank you also good people of pedro for starting this mssv tour up good. wednesday, september 6, 2023 - bakersfield, ca from mike: Boat packin gets done Down to the wire, hodges Still sounds like himself big saves on stage and a big save by patrick and dylan and the crew from hodge:  one of the several cars our konk host in bakersfield john has. it's called a javelin. john's house is big lotta rooms. we have stayed there before. very kind and gracious host. our set at bakersfield sound co. was sounding strong, big room, part sound company, mostly big music store. i was so tired when we got to john's. i showered and silently went to bed. i was at the point that nothing in the world was going to be better than bed. from watt: ok, it was late for me last night, maybe konking at 11:30 when most of 2023 I've been out by seven or eight pm. very doable though. working on day 250 of no alcohol... half-way on the longes I've been dry since I was a teenager! it ain't hard waking up just like after the first couple of months of this journey konking out. yeah, the first couple of months were terrible but now, I got no problem w/konk and damn if it ain't "real konk" cuz man, can I feel it - I shit thee not. I cook up the last of the eggs w/the rest of the chopped broccoli, onions and brussel sprouts. cooking so much of my own chow these days, one of the reason the scale says 159 pounds when I stand on it. healthier at sixtyfive now then I have been since surviving that illness in 2000... life is a fuckin trip. worth it though, very much so and music's a big reason for it for me. so glad to be able to mike and mssv proj, so glad. I go to the prac pad to get my bergantino forte hp amp and the nxt212 speakerbox jim gave me a few months ago. I also get some stuff I salvaged from the old boat at the impound yard to go in the new one. I head over to hodge's pad in east long beach for the first pack and get there at noon. my secondmen organman peetzo installed the shelf unit and forward bulkhead for the gear space and did a most bitch job. love peetzo, I told him this new boat is his any time he wants cuz he deserves, absolute. a 2023 ford transit can't hold what a 2005 ford econoline e350 can so we gotta refigure things now. hodge re-thinks his trap kit setup and trades what he wanted to bring w/something that can fit this new reality now that we all can size up the sitch. I will use this speakerbox for this first leg but switch it out for my 1x12 barefaced speakerbox for leg two - less than half the size and only twentyone pounds - even my crippled self can man-handle that schlep. we finally shove off at one and half w/gig tonight in bakersfield 140 miles north. we get bent over w/first fill-up of the tour via a shell oil station at $5.49/gallon. good thing this new boat gets like eighteen miles/gallon (last boat got like ten but then it's motor was a 6.8 liter triton v10 - this one's got a 3.5 liter v6), you can set the digital speedometer for "econo mode" which gives you average miles per gallon while the analog one monitor miles per hour. really helps me w/the driving behavior I bring, I mean besides being safe as possible... gotta get everyone aboard back home safe which has always been my biggest priority and right after, playing as good as I can for the gig-goers... everything else is after that. I get us on I-5 going north... get in at five and half, the gig pad's in a kind of olde-timey type of strip mall and this nice cat zeke is there to bof greet us and direct our load-in. gigboss gary comes out and says hi, very cool people. this pad's called bakersfield sound co in the northwest part of twon and is a full-on music store. good size room, 'pert-near the whole pad. I see the trap kit hodge is gonna use now that we've faced up to the realities of the size of the new boat - it's a most bitchin 1970 camco all-natural four piece and it sounds really good. we're on a bunch of big rugs, things sound good. we check w/the gigboss doing sound after nathan and dylan set stuff up. they got a nice padded no-arm chair for me, most kind. mike goes gets tacos from across the street. I get to park real close to the hatch - yes, love it! looking at the new boat after her very first crossing of the grapevine, she did real good...  the tejon pass was no prob for her but yeah, some pendejos w/their dangerous stupid "driving" made some stuff scary but that's them and not the new boat. I did see more highway patrol action then I have in the last few years once in the san jaoquin valley... why can't people be more safe cuz it's a good idea? crimony. talk w/the very nice folks in a local band sharing the deck w/us called them or us - can find a link to them on the internet but they know about the old days - we talk about the germs and stuff... good cats - earlier outside we were discussing t-rex, yes! I like the way they got their drummerman up front. guitarman roger's from torrance, not too far from my pedro town. also driving from los angeles is riley geare in the "boloney seat" (some might christen that spot on the bill "lucky pierre") who gives man-alone w/a keyboard along w/old drum machine samples - good left hand w/his bass parts! I'm thinking of zeke asking me about transpo for his band cuz right now his band's using three small sedans caravan style! crimony. I tell him my opinion is that a van is the center of your touring universe so why not and get that together. much luck to him.  gigboss gary is also soundman gary (also padboss gary) and I really dig mike wants to do only one tune for soundcheck, love it! save the rest for the gig, correct? maybe prac before the tour starts, huh? we get done quick and mike gets me some tacos across the road, al pastor and authentica, really fuckin good, sabor. them or us tear open things up and get the gig lit, thank you! riles (he tells the gig-goers they can call him that) and I'm tripping on his set, lots of bass w/his left hand - yeah! he sings along w/it, like james jamerson putting his parts to those motown singers, respect.  nine-twenty and it's our turn. I don't fuck up the first tune! I like playing this town, maybe the d boon connection? he lived here a few years before he came to pedro when he was six, his pop lived his last years here - I'd come up to visit him. I love his pop danny. the bakersfield gig-goers are most kind to us. I'm getting used to sitting down doing a gig a lot faster than I thought. I fuck up some words though, gotta work on that. thank you much for having us, good people of bakersfield. last year's gig in this town had us konking at mike's buddy john's pad and we're back there again, he's most kind. time to test out the new air mattress! first though I have a real good spiel w/our most kind host - he's got a "secret treaties" tshirt on so we talk dragsters (my favorites when I was a boy were gassers, ones from willys coups were my ichiban!) and some about blue oyster cult, fill him on stuff I learned from bof joe and albert bouchard like the artistman gawlik who did the art for the first two albums which goes into a big spiel on chronos who's astrological symbol became the basis of the b.o.c. logo - he just added a washer to make appera sort of like three exclamation points and a question mark (or did I get that from skipper jeff?) - we'll pick up on more spiel in the morning cuz I'm beat and it's just after midnight... thank you much much for having us aboard again, john. thursday, september 7, 2023 - oakland, ca from mike: A nice first long ride In the new boat, with blue skies Parking right in front Total blast again With Victoria, also Found some fix up spots! from hodge:  dr. ray and dr. robbin are former club owners music lovers art lovers and just the best folks! day 3 oakland this is a special place because we get to konk at their fine house. we stay up late talking and listening to music and eating keto friendly foods and a variety of beverages. this hang is about art and community and sharing. dr. ray got going this morning on the piano as you can see, the music floated down to us all from upstairs very beautiful. we used to play at there club "uptown lounge" very cool place they had to close because of pandemic. that's unfortunate because great clubs are few and far between. from watt: pop at seven-twenty. john's got coff w/out any flavor, so kind of him. we spiel about this pad he bought in italy, an old pad he wants to give to his kids and their kids. I start spieling about myth stuff he's heard a little about but seems to wanna know more - like me! I tell him I got the disease of being curious regarding things that seem far apart in one way but maybe butted right up on each other in another. time flies and I wish I could yammer away 'til tuckered but there's tour work to do. he said he enjoys our spieling, alright - can't wait for the next one! we shove off at ten and a half. bye john... pull over for fuel at a "loves" near a ramp towards tracy - I got a minutemen story from the old days involving the town of tracy I could get into... BUT NOT NOW! $4.90/gallon to fill up the new boat (her third fill-up!) - mike has to remind me that I said I wanted to piss (my reason to pull the new boat over) but damn if these days at my age after a lot of sitting can make you forget you need to 'TIL you do stand up and then... crimony! I go piss, get a sack of some spicy pickles slices. fuck, no one cleaned the windshield... gotta get that together. crimony. I get us back on the road, I-5 to I-580 (on this road we go over altamont pass - you know about the gig near here back in 1969, correct? crimony!)  ...to I-280, traff ain't too bad - going our way while opposite direction? fucking stau. crimony. problem w/the tour shirt my sister melinda picked for me - it's fuckin short sleeve which means the sun can come through the port window and fuckin burn me. mike lends me his sweatshirt so I can use one sleeve to shield my port-side forearm from get broasted. crimony. kind of awkward but works, most grateful to mike. what he suggests is a big knee sock w/the foot part cut off - good idea, I think - need to find one...  we arrive at the golden bull in oak-town at three and a half. we find parking right out front, yatta! weather is good, very mild - like yesterday in bakersfield and pedro before that, yatta for california! gig boss jason arrives at four and half (very nice cat) - in the meantime we have a spiel in the new boat about where watt's at now w/the no drinking - mike and miss hiyori pretty much know but I wanna get hodge caught up, he deserves. we do the load-in and mike comes back to tell me he's been told not to leave "even a sock" in the new boat. whoa... that's kind of difficult so I will be guardiano and camp out here w/this big fuckin screwdriver I rescued from the old boat - also rescued some other stuff including one of this rilakkuma that was in there:  I chimp diary 'til soundcheck time... we check w/soundman jt - he reminds me of him meeting me and raymond pettibon at an arthur lee gig where arthur did he his "forever changes" album at the west hollywood "house of blues" (recently torn down for condos) and another time where I was hobblin around in new york city, he's very kind to me. back to the new boat, I switch out w/miss hiyori to continue guardiano role... not long after john trubee appears at the window - he's gonna on for the third time on the watt from pedro show on sixtysix bday, coming up this twenty december wednesday. he asks where I get the energy to do what I'm doing and I tell him that yeah, it looks like a buttload but what I try to keep in mind is a life is made of many days: the sun rises and the sun sets... I operate from that basic operation and keep on keepin on... he says he wants to see me w/this proj - very kind of him. I chimp diary for the first time NOT in the driver's seat of this new boat. mike comes by w/some carne asada tacos from a halal pad, whoa - maybe my first? why not! in the mouf they are happening and oishii, yes! feels good in the onaka, I will have power I feel tonight.  victoria shen is going to join us for the first tune tonight and that's righteous. her and grux join me in the new boat and much spiel ensues... all kinds of stuff including my knee history, that illness history, current no-drinking "motivation" (yeah, that's might be a good way to put it), etc. we spiel all the way to gig time so I miss bof openers, crimony. so sorry. ten bells and we hit, love hitting on time - LOVE IT! especially on work/school nights. it starts real good, victoria joining us on an extended version of our first tune...  she even uses her "fingernail styluses" on hodge's hihats! crimony, it's beautiful. we have a good time. however, things get rough for us not soon after and it turns out to be the roughest gig of the tour so far. it happens: hills and valley - the rhythm of a tour, a tour being made of many gigs which are many opportunities for stuff like that to happen... some of it's due to communication probs on stage between us - it's not any fault of the oakland gig-goers who are much kind to us. well, we'll rally tomorrow is what I'm hoping cuz there's no way to "airbrush away" this cuz it's now past. we live and we learn, correct? kevin, the jefe for "el enojado" who makes "wattsauce" (developed by him after he asked me for ingredient suggests - what I would like in it - so I told him habaneros, roasted serranos, garlic, ginger and lime. handmade himself in small batches, gran respeto. yeah, he ended up roasting the garlic as well as the serranos - great idea!) comes to rap w/me as I pack up (I try to do this as soon as possible when the set's finished) talks to my about bass (he's a bassman also) but also breaks the bad news that his "el enojado" company has to quit in a month cuz it's too much to run the kitchen where he makes up the batches, says he can't see him asking people for like $15 a bottle. man, kind of a real heartbreak for me cuz I love what he did w/my "recipe" suggests... miss hiyori is slinging some botellos of it on this tour - he brought her a box. I chow this sauce on 'pert-near everything I cook back in my pedro town, love it... love him. gran respeto to "el enojao" jefe kevin. well, at least he's still on bass... he tries out my wattplower mk II I hand him and he digs it. orale! big abrazos para el bajohermano... after the load-out and the new boat pack, mike gives us a good spiel on how to move on from tonights golden show of clams, good advice for the band. I can dig it. oh, damn me for the second time in a row for 'pert-near donating my ac voltage power cord... mike again saves the day by plucking it from donate mode there on the stage. fuckin slow learner watt. crimony. way close is where we're konking, ray and robbin's pad - robbin wants me to back in the new boat into their driveway but I'm still learning and instead ask her park her car behind for security. yeah, slow learner watt. they got a righteous pad, we've been here twice before. I have a huge spiel w/ray about my fucked up port-side knee (at least there's no pain!) and all kinds of stuff - he brings me some slices of salami from molianri's in the city, crimony! I love this stuff. I 'pert-near never chow after gigs but I chow this. I'm at around 160 pounds these days, healthiest I've even been (except for the fucked up port-side knee) - actually a big reason is the way cutting down on sugar - not just gummi bears and booze but stuff like rice, bread and pasta - I chow pasta now only once a week... very trippy since my ma's people were from italy, I grew up chowing pasta up the yang! life is a journey and this is where I am now. I used to have really sore joints but even that has improved big time since doing this, no aspirin or ibuprofen AT ALL now, don't need it. thank god. it's two and a half when I gotta let ray know I gotta konk... 'pert-near three hours! crimony. I could prolly spiel w/him for days, let alone hours! I gotta think about being healthy for the tour though, gotta keep that in focus. friday, september 8, 2023 - sacramento, ca from mike: Always so awesome To get to hang with robbin And ray - safe travels! This gig, i think we Started making music here Tonight on that stage from hodge: old ironsides wasn't that a spin off of perry mason? anywho we usually get to konk in sacramento at our dear friend conception's home. it's a shangri la with an outdoor sauna and vine covered patio with strings of lights. plus really intresting collections of art. plus she is such a vibrant personality. this time around denied she was unable to host us due to illness, we certainly wish her a speedy recovery!!! from watt: pop at nine and a half - crimony! can't remember the last time I popped that late... prolly cuz my body/head needed it, huh? glad to oblige. I had big nightmare - ig was in it! first week of tour 'pert-near always has having nightmares at the beginning cuz obviously my mind is trying to reconcile insecurities or whatever that's a result I think of me doing the sally-forth... yeah, after forty years of doing tours, this still happens! crimony. like mr byrne said "same as it ever was," huh? maybe these 'mares (stooges drummerman scotty's word for it) are necessary, sort of a survival mechanism? I wonder... ok, so far thbest fuckin coff of the tour, crimony, it's good! nothing but coff - but what coff! much respect to ray for cooking that up! we have another good spiel - not as long as last night but a real good one. miss hiyori brings me a little caesar salad from "trader joes" and boils up some hard boiled eggs, I have a couple. took my vitamins first time this tour... damn, need psyllium husks cuz I fuckin forgot - damn me. mike alerts me to him just having ray (remember bof him and robin are medical doctors) examine a gutpain he's having and the verdict is a small hernia so he's gotta really limit the schlep sizes he takes on 'til tour's done and he can't get it fixed. so it goes: we are fragile vessels. "a man's gotta know his limitations" I've never forgotten from that "dirty harry" movie... man, does that motherfuckin spiel have a buttload of applications or what, huh? ray is on the piano doing prac, it's inspiring to me as I chimp diary. shove off at two pm for sac-town cuz it's just eighty-something miles... weather again is california righteous, most grateful watt. I-80 east all the way after some I-580. over the zampa bridge and past vallejo - lived there as a baby for a few months while my pop got nuclear engine training as a young sailor (he was a machinist mate in the navy) - my ma told me people in the navy housing there head about a town called that but for all they knew, there were living in "valley joe" - ain't it funny I live in a town pronounced PEE-DRO for the last fiftyseven years? crimony. a half hour later we pass an offramp for napa - d boon was born in napa. pass one for vacaville - where correctional mental facility for the state is and drummerman spent the rest of his life, I got to hear some about from jim keltner when I got the chance to again record w/him via mike... much respect to mr keltner, I really dug him as bof as a person and a drummer, REALLY do dig him, beautiful man. I very much value the time I got to be w/me - can't thank mike and chris schlarb enough for making that happen, truly. some us-50, I get us into sac-town and at the gig pad, one I've done buttloads of times, old ironsides at four and a half, happening parking right at the load-in hatch, yatta brian's the gigboss and he's been doing my sac-town gigs for thirtyfive years, he gets here at five, so happening to see him again, always is. I meet again matt who's a member of the family who owned this pad since 1934 and learn they sold it last year... he's very cool people and the artist that did this poster of a watt gig where I'm outfitted like a hard-helmet sponge diver, I shit thee not! much respect to him truly.   liza is doing the sound so we check w/her - she knows about muting the mains to ring out the monitors, much respect to her... you don't how many people ain't got a clue about that technique and then when show time comes there's nothing out of the wedges cuz you earlier checked and though stuff was good cuz the "monitor sound" was actually the mains echoing off the bulkheads (empty room, capito?). crimony. again: much respect to soundlady liza! great fourth person for the trio tonight. I meet drummerman jon from the openers tonight, bafus / shiurba / mckean - great cat, have shared the stage w/him before and am really glad we get to again. I go to the new boat and chimp diary. mike hoofs and gets us chow, brings me ramen from some pad gigboss brian suggest. it's good, I dig it. soup is really happening tour chow for watt, like authentica tacos and fresh salads. I'm most grateful.  first friday gig of the tour (only fiftytwo fridays a year) ten bells and our turn - bof mike and hodge say the openers are their favorite ones of the tour so far, much respect. turns out this set us mssv people do tonight is my favorite one so far this tour, I really enjoyed it. thinking about last night - there actually were some "victories" besides the collab w/victoria shen - I got all the words correct for one of the new tunes! anyway, tonight is definitely a rally and the band I feel really communicated much better and that means I think was able to bring it better to the sac-town gig-goers who were really supportive of us. mike asked to exaggerate our dynamics right before we started and that's what we did. I had to grab hodge to remind him of a some straight-pulse kick drum for one of the new tunes' chorus - he didn't mind he told me later. there was also some other "communications" I had to via mouf (me hollering "hodge!") - of course it's better to use the eyes but what to when you get no ojos? crimony. love the way his camco kit lets us set up real tight, helps big time I think w/connection in the moment. once again we get an encore... last night was first no-encore set of the tour - this band does not to milk them and I'm very glad for that. one lame thing is when I'm trying to pack up after, I get harassed by someone borracho - mike comes to the rescue though, thank you big time. real glad though to see brother phil - didn't get on his motorcycle from mammoth this time (drove a car) but am so happy to hear he's working bass along w/his guitar playing and composing - much MUCH respect to him. many kind thank yous from many gig-goers, most grateful for this also. one named dan helps me schlep the amp to the new boat - usually I ain't into this cuz I use it for a walker but I'm carrying a crutch (crutch, not crutches) this tour... and I trust him cuz he's been to buttloads of my sac-town gigs.  at the new boat, animator kevin who had me provide bass for a tribute to beautiful bassman "cleve" eaton has big spiel w/me outside the new boat soon as I get done yammering about the blue oyster cult w/this cat from long beach - nice guy but he kept interrupting me, crippling up my answers to my questions - stuff like that happens, humans can be trippy relating to each other. we live and learn. anyway, he was a nice man. the spiel w/kevin is most important cuz I know cleve was a hero for him. much respect. quinn (friend of brother phil) says hi w/his new songwriting partner, glad to meet him and see quinn again cuz it's been a good while. we shove off and head for a konk pad mike's found via air b'n'b cuz where we usually konk - pedro buddy concepcion from the old days who moved here years ago - is infected w/covid19 along w/her ma... I dearly hope they get their health back soon as possible, very dear people to me. mike has some trouble getting into the pad but the success, yes! about twleve and a half when I konk... first big hellride of the tour tomorrow... wanna be ready for it saturday, september 9, 2023 - grants pass, or from mike: New boat made the pass Like a champ, what a nice ride Wildfire air Mighty crowd inside Showing us lots of spirit Good eyes on stage still from hodge: ok now we are cookin!! last night at the sound lounge in grants pass oregon. we had our best set of our tour. we all agreed, making the connections breathing together, fixing little mistakes on the fly and laughing about it as we do. this is the shit, this is what we all work for. togetherness an expressive unit. opening band was also a trio, drums, guitar, woodwinds, alto sax, bass clarinet, alto contra bass clarinet. the alto contra bass was about five feet tall a real dr. suess/star wars looking instrument. they played free jazz. grants pass, this one was looking pretty light on attendance, but once we started play folks were right there up front and vocal. the supportive kind of vocal. like if your doing a drum solo or the band does a dramatic dynamic change there are responsive ooh and ahhs. eveyone there was thanking us for being there, apparently touring bands seem to pass them by on a regular basis. our first 12 days of this tour have us concentrating on saturation of the west coast so grants pass is one to keep in the book. till next time.... from watt: pop at seven bells, again out from another 'mare - this time for some wack reason greg hetson (circle jerks guitar man) was in it! crimony. I've known him for years but not really that well - fuckin 'mares are wack, huh? I make coff w/what I find in the cupboard here and then check email... get word from will, younger brother of missingmen guitarman tom watson that he's in the hospital, he fell down... end of last year he fell and fractured his pelvis - I'm very worried cuz I love that man much, known him since the 80s, have played w/him since 1999. crimony. I put out the well-wishes w/my mind for him, all I can. my first time hosing off since leaving my pedro town... what the fuck? gotta get that together. get the last two days of diary uploaded after putting out the word about today's show. seven minutes after our planned eleven bell shove-off time we do just that: shove off. buttloads of construction means buttloads of stau und plug on the us-50 but things up once we get to the I-5 and head north, a big reason I call this part of the tour "the I-5 leg" cuz 'pert near all the gigs are 'pert-near right close to it. skies are cloudless and temps in high 80s... big test for the new boat, we got a pass higher than tejan, right past the border w/oregon. I discover how to get bof mike's music and navigatoro stuff off his I-leash piped into the new boat via a usb connect in the dash. whoa. let's retire the garmin for a little bit and see how this works... happening and we get to hear his picks of music instead of watt's. I see a sign for "the french road" (frontage road), they ain't just in texas but here's one in cali too! crimony.  twenty after noon I pull us off at williams to fuel up at an arco - $5.00/gallon and this time the new boat's windshield gets its first cleaning courtesy of hodge...    thank you much to hodge, truly. "a clean boat is a happy boat" - not just a slogan in my fuckin world, nope. hodge does a righteous job, much respect! onward I bring us up north. we spiel about last night and it seems to me everyone dug last night's gig much, even w/the clams - clams can be really secondary if the band is cooking and together, correct? I think so, big time. mike's happy w/me and hodge getting the communication thing better - hodge says he is too and I think that's very happening. thank you. not long after one and a half we pass the town of red bluff...  this is where my pop grew up (though born in chicago) before joining the navy at eighteen. I was brought here to visit when a younger boy so I can't remember where the pad was but I'm pretty sure there wasn't any I-5 built yet - the main road north in cali then was ca-99, same one bakersfield's on (parts of I-5 like here around red bluff were became part of the I-5 route). onward, I pull us over an hour and a half later when we hit the town of weed...  my pop worked on a farm here a summer not much before joining the navy. the stop is only for pissing cuz I ain't got a piss bottle yet for the new boat, damn me. we got these shasta parts to get through - looks like the drought's been beat down some by all the rains we had earlier in the year, great. last cali town is called hilt and at quarter after four w/cross into oregon... bye bye cali, back in four days.  siskiyou pass is the highest point on I-5 and the new boat handles it real good, the weather making stuff real safe to do it also. I'm most grateful truly. of course there's some pendejos driving like... well, pendejos and that includes truckers which in the old days was 'pert-near NEVER the case, they were the most professional and careful cats on the road. crimony. I remember this starting to happen about seven years ago... fucking lame. I get us in the alley behind tonight's venue at five and a half. it's the sound lounge in the old downtown of grants pass - my first time playing here... hell, first time being here period. we load in the back but get notified about "not leaving anything in your vehicle" so I decide it ain't a good place out back and instead park it out front of the pad, right across the street, right after the load-in. soundcheck ain't 'til seven so mike does a chow search and says he found comidas authentica and will get me some tacos, fucking right on. I chimp diary in the meantime.it's in the 80s w/the sun all bright but fuck it, I love being in the new boat. a space opens up right in front of the gig pad - yes I get the new boat right there. mike brings me five pastor tacos and they're great. I notice the air is looking a little orange, like from smoke from wildfires - the smell also is like of stuff of burning. crimony. this is getting to big prob everywhere and not just oregon and cali. crimony. I chow the tacos (sabor, mi gusta) and then chimp diary. we do soundcheck w/soundman chris, good cat and enlightens us to the fact he actually was at a gg allin gig - said a dude right next to him got hit in the face w/a turd. crimony. this was in response to me saying that you learn to carry your own mic if you've ever had to go after one of mr allin's performances. j told me he played a gig (not on the same bill but as a band member) and there was an odor to it. the gigboss jay here is very kind to me, says back-wack-puter-sacks ain't allowed EXCEPT for band members, makes a way for me and my cojo self to get through the hatch easier also. very kind, really dig working for cats like this. small stage, so glad hodge switched out for his camco trap kit cuz damn if it just fits!  they got a poster of cream on a bulkhead and I look at jack bruce for inspiration... man, do I owe that guy buttload, man do I... I go to the new boat to konk. on the bill w/us are locals thunderchud - a had a good rap w/the bassman travis, very cool people. we're on at ten, w/five minutes to go (mike came to roust me five minutes before that but I had just popped on my own - how?), I hobble up and onto where I need to be, they got a good chair for me, one w/no arms. we bring the gig... great response/support from the grants pass gig-goers, really happening - I think I enjoyed this gig more than last night in sac-town... way less clams (especially "pity parody" which was total clown car ride), I get the spiel together for the new boat song (no title yet, it's a new one). I'm digging the bass sound I'm getting this tour, feeding the bergantino forte amp is a tiny board I made that holds a sushi box fx "finally" (the d.i. is used only just in case of trouble) that's got a 12ax7 tube running at 350 volts (no bullshit "starved plate" jive crap running here) fed by a earthquaker devices "warden" set w/slowest attack, quickest release, lowest rate, lowest sustain settings possible and that's fed by a tc electronic polytune 3 mini and feeding that is a broughton audio always on high pass filter set at about thirtyfive hz which is where I plug my bass into. it all fits in a pouch in the same purse that holds the amp, very compact which I dig big time. the band is really getting the dynamics down too - mike again suggests to hodge to exaggerate the dynamics. I hear some of the grants pass gig-goers comment how hodge is kicking much dust, yes! larry from pull anchor is here in front of me (lives here now) - I give him fist tag! we finish up and though I signed a bunch of stuff after soundcheck, I do much more while I'm packing up - I do it from the chair which is much easier for me - also is the packing up! crimony. big time kindness from everyone here, I really wanna come back and work this pad again, much respect to all, truly. from the new boat I give bassbrother travis and his lady stickers from the rolled-down window. what a great night! the only thing a little awkward was no music playing when our stuff was over. hey, small potatoes in the sense of the big picture, correct? a man not too much younger than me says he's from strong beaach (where hodge grew up and lives now) - he's got puka shells around his neck and it reminds me of my time at dodson jr high in the 70s where me and d boon bof went. we talk about joey shithead - love that man and he's still going, much respect, a true inspiration from true north canada! I thank this man for helping me w/the speakerbox schlep to the new boat... damn, I should've got his name! idiot watt... mike's found one of those air beat n be pads not too far but like last night, has the wrong code which takes some calls on the leash but is thankfully rectified and we get inside just after midnight. this "truaire" air mattress is working good so far. happening. I got some bug bites but the worse thing to do is to itch those fuckers so I buck up 'til konk brings bof relief from that and rest for my tuckered self. great fucking first gig ever for watt in grants pass, or - thank you most kind people for bringing that. sunday, september 10, 2023 - portland, or from mike: Good weather holding First non taco thai food here I see chris on walk But with a phone call True pain hits, Des and i lose Our kitty, Jabba Swiftly saying bye Kind of barely connected Then i take the stage from hodge: portland what a beautiful city!!! home of some of my good buddies. jose medeles for one, fellow drummer percussionist former drummer for the breeders and owner and creator of revival drum shop in portland. writer of books and creator of the 1939 ensemble. we had plenty to talk about got to share a couple meals. second meal was at bob's red mill cafe, bob's famous for his foods like flax seed, flours, grains etc. all on the organic side of things. they make a pretty darn good breakfast, and in keeping with the whole organic healthy theme everyone who worked there was very friendly, makes a difference. jose being the generous fellow that he is donated two things to us and the venue ( turn! turn! turn!). venue got a very low boom stand for the bass drum mic all they had were really tall stands so cheesy when the bass drum mic stand towers 3 or 4 feet over the whole drum kit. i needed a green army duffle bag for my drum and cymbal stands once again jose to the rescue. we had to ditch the usual drum hardware pelican case ( fine new boat has less cargo space). army duffle is way more econo on space. from watt: pop at seven bells. had weird mare's again this time missingmen guitarman tom watson a big part of him... I think he told me he had family in grants pass on one tour we did while pass through on I-5... that's the way it always was w/grants pass - "just passing by" but now maybe it can be a regular gig? that would be happening. they got one of those jive keurig machines here instead of drip but I guess better than nothing - barely! I make it up for hodge, miss hiyori and myself... mike's still konked. I fucking finally shave, first time since shoving off from my pedro town, damn me for being lame on that. in the old days I would NOT shave 'til done w/tour but I stopped that shit years ago. I do not like a beard on my self - I don't like shaving either but what the fuck, correct? we do what we gotta do. we got hard boiled eggs from yesterday - I chow three of them w/my vitamins. I charge all my devices. crimony. I chimp diary. we shove off at noon, bye bye grants pass. I get us on I-5 - it'll take us all the way to portland, about 250 miles. weather is warm but skies all blue and less fire damage in it seems compared to yesterday. trippy using mike's leash for the navigatoro gps but it works good. no music this ride though, only spiel from us and taking turns which I dig much. having parallel spiels going in such a confined space is a fuckin nightmare (yeah, that other kind). we got the curtain from the two previous boats now fitted and it's working great. an hour and a half later I get us off the freeway at the rice hill exit to a arco am/pm, they got gas for$4.40/gallon... the attendantman lets me know you can pump your own fuel now in oregon, the law changed last year. crimony. I guess only new jersey now has such a thing now. inside I see some "paqui spicy chips" and having just read about this sad story about a young man dying from chowing these, I'm a little curious... now understand I chow chilies w/'pert-near every meal I cook and for the longest while I've been doing own cooking mostly in my pedro town, mostly saute style where the common "foundation" is olive oil (I like the "partanna" kind from sicily which is single sourced), chopped onions, garlic, ginger and chilies - all fresh of course. lots of times fresh diced zucchini also. after that I put in the protein and then good carbs like brocc and caulliflower, brussel sprouts, asparagus - frozen on the filed stuff - remember that pedro's in cali! I only chow pasta once a week for the last couple of years, usually saturday mornings. anyway, I notice a slight port list on the new boat, we gotta check our pack and get that together. when she's running true is where we want it, correct? I get us back north on I-5 about three hours later we pass over the columbia river and into the northwest part of portland where turn! turn! turn! is, our gig pad for tonight and I think my third time here. doors are bolted so hodge goes to chow w/his drummerbuddy (former student actually) jose who lives here (has his own drum shop!!) and mike hoofs to find us three left tacos - he yanks on my leash and says they're cerrado (closed) by how about thai chow? ok, I will try one of their curries. mike brings me back and mango curry and I dig it... ain't ate much rice lately (same w/potatoes), I mix it all up using my hashi and bring it in, real good.   into the venue w/me after full of chow... padboss elizabeth - missed her last time cuz of infection scare but covid19 gave her only a taunt. so good to see her again, we rap about getting less younger and dealing w/it. soundman samwise does soundcheck w/us. hodge's buddy jose goes home and brings small mic stand to donate to the pad for kick drum, gran respeto! I meet the drummerman for the opener, his name is brandon and then the man himself, alex callenberger - very nice cats and great we get to share the stage w/them again tomorrow night. I go to the new boat and konk. oh, must praise the most happening head they got here cuz damn did I had to purge whatever it was, crimony.  twenty after nine go-time but we go three minutes early - no spiel, mike just brings us - I'm thinking "this is for his cat" cuz just before he told me had to let him go - too old and a merciful out... I feel feelings I had for my man (I called him boy when he was younger), a silver tabby I lost right before that illness. crimony that was hard... nanny had to do it and from the vet's chimney later came a puff of smoke... crimony. anyway, very tough gig in parts but lots I enjoyed and don't wanna seem like I take those parts for granted cuz I'm big time grateful for them - believe you me. things got better as the set went on - please don't think I'm blaming the portland gig-goers cuz their most generous and beautiful w/us, main part of why I feel responsible about bringing the best we can to them. the "1969" part of the encore had the same clam as last night so I think I know what we're doing as part of soundcheck tomorrow... saul koll makes mike's guitars - originally he's from so cal (where I met him) and he's here now kicking up much dust, he comes up to spiel w/me right after I pack up and it's a good one, I try to catch up all I can w/him, he tells me about a new guitar he's making for mike, also working w/happening pickup man curtis novak (lots of his pickups are in my stuff) and it all sounds real interesting. much respect! I get good schlep help from two of the nice cats who work security here, very kind and they're gentle - really scary sometime when someone you don't really know wants to "help" w/stuff you gotta work gigs w/and big time count on, correct? they take direction real good too when it comes to the "tertris pack" for the new boat. I really dig being the first cat in the band to have his shit schlepped and loaded each night cuz then it's a load off my mind. I then get in the driver's seat for inspiration, ronjon from yankee gaucho comes up and spiels to me through the other window, so good to meet him in person (he was a guest on my watt from pedro show) a couple of months ago. I dig what he's doing and wanna see him play live, maybe in my pedro town I suggest - there's a pad downtown called collage maybe... we'll see. mike's got a friend named chris in oregon city about a half hour away (we pass bob's red mill - I chow his steel-cut oatmeal a few times a week, the only kind I shovel - fuck all that instant jive sugared-up shit!) that he wants us to konk at and we get there just before midnight. chris has got a righteous dog named molly who I feel has a real nice character. makes me think of mike having to say bye to his cat just before the gig. crimony, that's heavy... very heavy... our animal friends is what I think about as konk takes me.. monday, september 11, 2023 - seattle, wa from mike: Chris is truly kind I got to meet all his goats So thankful for him Taco -bowl- tonight Brad says this is his swan song Sad about my cat Sandy hangs backstage Inspiring lady, very Lots of good people from hodge: seattle holds a very special significance for me. it's the home of may daughter kai and my grandchildren adam and charlotte. makes me so excited that i kinda get nervous. anywho it also means we get to play in the royal room, a very classy venue with great vibes very professional sound and soulful ownership. plus we get to konk at sandy glazes' apartment. sandy is one in a million and her so sweet pitbull meatball, very homey and comfortable for all of us. in the morning sandy is workin those pots and pans and great coffee. plus a big personal triumph for me, i finally figured out the way to really get my air mattress back in the stuff, amazing what you can do when you really read the instructions. we are well on our way after 8 am departure for our 500 mile hell ride. stay tuned much love and respect! from watt: pop at six to piss first - fuckin cold... get back to where I konked - fuckin window's open! remember watt lives in pedro, ain't quite acclimated to everywhere else. crimony. never been to oregon city but have seen signs for it... crazy that some people think I've been everywhere cuz I ain't - there's still butloads I gotta see and find out about - also learning more stuff - I have a great spiel w/chris (benson amps boss) about amps, music... find out he started music on bass, yes! very humble and interesting w/his spiel, respect. I could spiel w/him for a billion days about this stuff - like mke, he's twenty years-plus younger than mean but that don't mean shit these days and I think that's a real good thing and feel lucky for cats like this learning me all kinds. much respect. love chris's dog molly also.  chris cooks me up some toast and scrambled eggs, most kind. mike finds casters... yes, his speakerbox will get casters! but not yet... he needs to build a dolly to put them on, prolly between the three days between this tour's two legs. chris made a bass amp for joe lally - he's a most happening bass brother. chris said last night he could relate to me on the crutch cuz he's had gout stuff putting him on those - yeah: music, bass and crutches - much common ground! I sure am lucky, the pluses way outnumbering the minuses... always important to keep in mind. check email: my buddy bob-san wrote this essay on the mssv "human reaction" album we're playing all the tunes from this tour (along w/stuff from the next album which will get recorded the day after this tour's done and a couple from the first album), worth the read, I think. speaking of email, yesterday I got this poem from jaded azurites member karen schoemer: the trill of a downy woodpecker is unambiguous cows warm the barn with their own heat the barn is approximate it sounds right unlike "heavy rocks one after another" throwing heavy rocks one after another isn't what I mean I hunt for rocks to throw more rocks at the neighbor's decorative windmill the windmill seems to float behind the picket fence the wind is exiting and re-entering the neighbor's house this repetition fuzzy with corrosion in fabulous design where streams converge must constantly balance the earth we got a sixth ep called "number six" coming out real soon. most happening. pull anchor at noon and since chris' pad is east of portland, I soon have us cross the border into washington state using I-205 north (using the interstate system: three numbers w/first one even means belt off the I-5) not too long after... there's big stau ('traffic plug' in german) cuz of bridge construction, about a half hour of slow-go but better than no go, correct? sky has got the biggest clouds of the tour so far but no rain. yesterday in portland was totally like my pedro town! we've been really lucky w/weather. we got like a two hundred mile drive today. lucky w/the traff, no hells... twenty of two I pull us off at castle rock so hodge can piss... it's a shell station w/lame gas price so fuck that and we got enough. we're near mount saint helens - man, did that mountain top blow! crimony. I don't like going below a quarter tank so quarter of four about a half-mile from the gig pad I stop us at an arco am/pm to get fuel at $5.00/gallon... hodge on the windshield clean-job again voila, NO fuckin streaks, I shit thee not, omedeto big time. a real pro. soon we're we need to be, the royal room and yes, there's parking out front BUT we gotta bring the new boat via some tiny town streets... if it ain't a team effort, no way would this work but the columbia city (this part of seattle) drivers are much down w/being kind, thank you much. I drop anchor where we want right at four. I spotted a taqueria on the way and hoofs over to get some while I chimp diary. I'm using a macbook air craptop this tour cuz THE DAY BEFORE we shoved off on this leg, I woke up to find my usual purse screen cracked, must've fallen off my lap when I konked in the lazyboy chair my ma gave me. crimony. it's under applecare so in november I'll get it fixed. mike brings me six al pastor (w/pineapple chunks + pickled onions) tacos so I give one to hodge cuz that makes for a better number. happening tacos, mi gusta. we see alex and brandon coming towards the new boat, we'll share the stage w/them again. the gig pad's hatches pop not long after and we load-in... while I'm doing guardiano this young man named holden comes up and gives me a righteous gift: a "brain tanned buckskin" made by native people he supplemented w/an anchor made by beads. beautiful... thank you so much, brother holden. he's a bassbrother also so we talk about bass much and have a good time. he sounds real inspired to express himself via the thudstaff, much respect! love to hear cats fired up like this, love it. a spot opens up EVEN CLOSER to the royal room hatch - he holds for me while I bring the new boat to it, thank you bassbrother holden! talking to cats like this really inspires me to me to find that light that got lit first playing w/d boon - I never want that lost - thank you bassbrother holden!  we check w/soundman brad - always thought he was the boss here but when this lady named tia asks if it's ok to let folks in, I tell her to ask the boss she says she is the boss. crimony! very nice though. I go to the backstage and chimp diary 'til my old friend sandy comes by... we're konking at her pad. so good to see sandy. her buddy jonas arrives and it's been a good while since I've seen him. crimony. alex and brandon go on and I really dig their set, am inspired - big thanks to bof. our turn's next and at a quarter after eight, this is the earliest gig yet of the tour. the seattle gig-goers are very respectful and also their spirit helps push us up, I feel it. someone hollers for brad to bring mike's voice up - he wants to hear it, yes! I clam a few times in the title song of the latest mssv album - what a fuckin stonato ('idiot' or literally 'out of tune' in italiano), crimony. mike laughs though - he's more on recovering after a clam w/a rally and no trying to get the hair shirt on w/all the distractions that go w/that. the seattle gig-goers give us an encore and I dedicate it to hodge's daughter kai and her family so even his grandkids get to see him kick up much dust. righteous. everyone very respectful and kind as I pack up and get the bass stuff to the new boat after getting the good word and signing things, I'm most grateful. "thank you very much" - I wanna let everyone know cuz I mean it sincerely. I tell some about my pop seeing me the only time he did... it was in fresno in early 1991 - he was smiling real big ear-to-ear when we got done and even invited us fIREHOSErs to konk at his pad! crimony. more good word, so kind - even w/interruptions I want folks to know sincerely I appreciate the good will much. sometimes I blow clams w/this also, damn me but those ain't on purpose, just like the gig ones. we follow sandy to her pad in seattle's pioneer square down town. of course I can't keep up - I'm still learning the new boat and wanna be safe but mike gets her on the leash and we meet her at parking garage, she got her little puppy now grown up meatball, beautiful. we got probs getting in the gate and that's cuz I ain't moved the new boat over a sensor that needs like a dumbfuck but a yank on the horn helps w/that. sometimes these leashes can be of great help, I shit thee not! love her pad, very distinctive and mostly one square room that's really artful, love it. not much longer for me, I gotta konk cuz of what we gotta do in the morning. konk comes easy for so many reasons to me this night, yatta! tuesday, september 12, 2023 - cave junction, or from mike: Early-ish morning Long drive today (could be worse) Watt: a great driver! Kind of hippie town? This cavern is really cool All ages show, nice Ben runs charities Out of this place for kids too Big rally on stage! from hodge:  locals say this town is part grateful dead and part the movie "deliverence" it's in a beautiful setting. i got to see a flock of geese flying in V shaped formation way overhead. later that night we saw a baby deer as we got off the main road. opening bands were pretty happening rosie from the first band sang her butt of, much respect rosie! from watt: pop at seven - the morning light's come through sandy's venetian blinds near where I am - that ain't a bad thing cuz in a hour we gotta shove off. her meatball wanko is beautiful and shares big time love w/me. pure pit bull too - goes to show you, it's the people around a dog that helps shape it and not the breed. I learned that when I was a meter man for so cal edison right before my knee surgeries, forty something years ago... sandy makes me pieces of potatoes and scrambled eggs - I love them. I had a trippy dream last night - not a 'mare but a lot of the music cats I met on the first tour of my third opera, it was in japan. whoa, I wonder why? sure did dig that tour even though performing that piece as a whole the first time was a total fucking pants-shitter. crimony. we bail from sandy's pad at eight bells and we get back to the new boat at the parking garage... everything's safe and we say bye 'til next time. oh yeah, damn me cuz I forgot to say her sin in linen company has a new line of stuff coming - she showed me so me some last night - inspired by edgar allan poe! crimony. love sandy.  I get us out of pioneer square and up the big hills to the I-5 and wheel us south... whoa, the new boat's stuff says its 53 degrees f out, lowest daytime temp of the tour. we get out of seattle w/out any plug, yatta! little sprinkles on and off (first moisture of the tour) and damn if we can see mount rainier cuz it's usually covered w/clouds. crimony.  only sprinkles and no real rain. traff is pretty calm, even past sea-tac airport and one of my favorite town names ever: "fife" cuz I just love saying it, the way you gotta make your mouf to do it. I get us over the columbia river/border w/oregon just before eleven, bye bye washington state... damn, less than twentyfour hours there! just before nine I pull us over at a "flying mascis" (j) not for taking on liquid (gas) but for hodge donating liquid (piss) to their head. the more south we go, the less clouds. I never leave the driver's street, I get us back on I-5 south, mike plays blue oyster cult's "tyranny and mutation" from his leash through the new boat via usb connect... maybe that was via spotify? don't know, have never used it. I had been spieling all about it and what a HUGE effect this album had on me and d boon, HUGE. buck dharma's guitar: wow, up there w/john fogerty and ccr as far as a classroom for him to learn his own way, absolute. seems mike is really amazed by drummerman albert bouchard and his inventiveness. gas gauge at 'pert-near quarter tank. at twenty of two I get us off just past a town called drain (same stop as day before yesterday driving north: rice hill) at a "flying mascis" and fuel the new boat for $4.36/gallon - cheapest of the tour. I get an ass pad and a blankie for the new boat, feel I need bof. I also got a big spicy dill pickle called a "hot mama" - right ear this pad is a coral w/an emu bird among some cows, crimony!    thirty miles ("one hollywood" in my book - the distance between hollywood and my pedro town - goes back to the 70s when I first started going to punk gigs there) east of saturday's in grants pass is cave junction and we get in seven minutes before our planned arrival time of four and half, yatta!  adding an hour to the google map predict seems to be holding up so far on this tour. on "the street" (this town's main drag), I get gig flagged down in front of tonight's gig-pad, bruno's cavern george who's also playing drums for bof of the openers.   george tells me he's spent lots of his life in so cal, knows all about pedro but lived in simi, the val AND downey (says his ma once played tambourine w/slayer - whoa!), says he's been here a decade. he knows a buttload about music and gear, gran respeto. I get a can of water that's got bubbles from the nearby gas station but it's got flavor - water's already got flavor in my book so what the fuck? I shoot it down. talk w/rosey from one of the openers, the cj5... she was born here in cave junction, tells me about her pop being a vet and fireman, living off the land. she came back after living some in seattle, she's very kind and earnest, much respect. we check w/soundman adam (cool people, like george and rosey) - I finally remember to ask hodge to move his mic to his other side (floor tom side) so I can his whole face and ojos. damn me for keep forgetting. back outside (parking in front of that hatch, yatta!), mike arrives to bring me five carnitas tacos that are a block or two away. I use a bunch of the "hello spicey" el enojado jefe kevin gave me back in oak-town (he brewed this one up w/homer from the residents - has that lousiana kind of red pepper and vinegar thing) and they're really good, diggin it!  adam and george are bof not only working to put on the gig but are in the other opening band tonight also, one called bitch disaster (no internet link for them found) and I watch/hear them soundcheck - adam's on bass so no one's on the ipad he used for us. crimony! anyway, I dig what they bring... george is really good on the drums. we spiel right after about music stuff - they tell me they also got a ragtime band and wanna tour bof one day (in the meantime they'll record I get told). I tell them I think music is music and fuck "bins in the chainstore dividing lines bullshit" and let the freak flag fly - they're way into that... they know about the screamers and nervous gender, pop group and throbbing gristle - fuck yeah! love hear this kind of spirit in fellow cats working music, love it! I'm really inspired by them to charge tonight when it's my turn to share the stage after, fuck yeah! crimony, it's beautiful, this music trip I got in to be w/d boon when we were twelve... I go to the new boat and konk cuz damn if the longest hellride yet of the tour yet (and for the new boat!) tuckered me out kind of big time. crimony. I unroll the yoga mat and am out... I pop right before the quarter after nine go-time... how? crimony. mike's surprised also when he comes to roust me - kind of strange to come out a konk like that right when I have to... how? maybe forty years of touring has finally beaten stuff like that into me somehow? anyway, we start strong and prolly are a trip to the cave junction gig-goers but I think in a good way and they show good support which we kind of need cuz a new one, "boat song" has me blowing my spiel part, spacing on it big time - distracted, my fault cuz even if things ain't going right I gotta keep that fuckin keel in the water, correct. oh boy, I recover some but damn if I let it get away from me. maybe the next one (another new baby) got collateral effect? we rally after that though, really grateful for that. except for a clam in the coda of "junk haiku" (beat flipped over), we did good, a happening rally that I am so glad for. I pack up my stuff... making sure I got my hat cuz you know last night I thought for sure I had donated it to the royal room's back room - damn me, it was in my fucking back wack 'puter sack. crimony. understand it's not a fashion statement - it's to protect my fuckin starboard ear cuz in 1987 it got burned up and the resulting scar tissue is way fragile, even from the sun while I'm driving coming through the new boat window. crimony. gig boss ben helps me schlep my stuff from the stage and over to the new boat, even loads it in, taking good direction - the happening kind of gig boss, huh? much respect to him. I go over to the driver seat and then think this open sack on the new boats console is a nut sack one but it ain't - it's the fuckin one the spicy dil pickle was in and it's half full still (pickle chowed so none of that) and down it comes on my levis and prolly baptizing some the fuckin new ass pad I got last gas stop, damn me. luckily this air b pad has a washing machine, huh? correct. we see a deer on the way but can't find my camera in time, damn me again. what's important is to hose off and you know what? these fuckin levis need washing anyway! crimony. man, am I slow learner. wednesday, september 13, 2023 - pacifica, wa from mike: Lots of good boat talk 'Lectronics, magnetic fields Fog in the city Great tacos again But disorganization Oh well, we play good! from hodge: calling this one my recovery set. things went pretty much seamlessly. it was a relief to arrive in pacifica because, we had just been thru 100 degrees of heat. and pacifica was 66 degrees and cloudy, for me a welcome relief me not so good in the heat. got to walk down to the ocean and breathe the salt air. something very grounding about that much nature right in front of you. did the gig boom back in the van drive to dr. robin and dr. ray's house in oakland, once again they are such gracious hosts! working our way south towards home. couple more gigs and we will have completed our west coast saturation. three days off and look out the rest the the usa we comin at you... from watt: pop at seven. go make coff upstairs - scarier going down though... that's how bad knees work. so good to put on clean outfit, yes! I was baka for waiting this long. we pull anchor at ten w/real good weather - clear air also, the wildfires have been out for a while now - northeast back up through grants pass and then I get us back on the I-5 south to cali. we go past medford and ashland - bof are bigger towns... me and mike talk about finding potential gigs to cut down on the hellrides... I mean ashland has a shakespeare festival even.I always try to time going over the siskiyou pass around noon at the earliest to avoid black ice hell or whatever, we're about twenty minutes early this time...  the new boat handles everything well though I ain't secure enough to try the manual setting on the tranny - she's got ten gears and maybe that could help on grades - bof up and down. the time is not now to try and learn and prac so I keep her in 'd' (drive) 'til I do have such a thing. crimony, we can see mount shasta - that's how clear the skies are. there's the hugest fucking liquor store out here, crimony...  I pull us off at yreaka but six bucks a gallon gas keeps from stopping, even to piss cuz who knows if they'll charge you a kidney for that?! nah, I'm kidding... I'd love to one day be able yreak, I really do. I get us on and into shasta county and past weed... already stopped there this tour, let's go further to dunsmuir (it's just after one) where I gotta piss and get some nuts - we'll wait for gas in red bluff, after redding. two hours later, it's that same mobil station next to this "egg roll king" china food chow pad where the gas is only $5.40/gallon (crimony)... these amber fields of grasses make me think about seeing them as a boy when our family would visit my pop's folks here... man, those summers are hot - the new boat's therm-jobber says a hundred degrees farhenheit. crimony. there's an I-505 cutoff so we ain't gotta go through sac-town to get to the city. at vacaville we hit plug and then the go-slow over the bay bridge (seems I'm the only one who's knows treasure island was built w/the dirt that got tunneled through yerba buena halfway across), where I-80 ends (where it connects to the city) is where we take us-101 south, swimming w/some fucking idiots driving like pendejos, a big fog comes down us out of nowhere at daly city but breaks as I get us on pch (the same one in wilmas!) but it clears as we get to pacifica and our ninth gig of is - where brother steve (good spiel on/from him here) spent his last years and where he'd hang he told me, winters tavern and damn if we ain't got the same parking place as last year - NOT in the lot but right at the driveway to the lot which is good cuz you can get hosed in there. just after six, took eight hours to 430 miles... kind of what I thought. every one does the load-in (no sound check at this pad though, just a load-in) while I just in the new boat to be still for a while, across from the "gnome house" - have I seen this before? I'm sure I did! crimony. my fucking memory... I swear sometimes. I do remember not being in such good shape last year here, a very hard time for me in fact. crimony. so glad for better health now, so glad. I chimp diary as I see mike in the port-side mirror hoof to get us comidas. that ass pad I got yesterday is working good, feeling way better there when it goes between my culo and the new boat's driver seat. five carnitas tacos, authentica and kicking up much dust for me, yes, love em.  I don't wanna konk cuz I wanna get some later easy for the early call tomorrow for the new boat to get maintenance... I chimp diary to keep from fretting too much about this. just don't wanna blow it, don't wanna calm the new boats's first maintenance, no! I could've went in and seen openers operation c and the hominoids (bof mike and hodge later tell me they dug them), damn me but I had to rest from that hellride... just getting my sea legs and crimony, yesterday's hellride was 450 miles... I got only so much gas in my tank. it's go-time, well, it's ten minutes late go-time but mike had to work hard to get the p.a. working (I get enlightened to that) - actually a big hang up was find me a chair! crimony. we bring the gig and very kind of the pacifica gig-goers, right like that. we do pretty good. my clams ain't that big and maybe it's the best version of the "boat song" yet this tour though I'm still fucking up the spiel I'm supposed to do in the middle of it, damn me. of course we can get better and I got hope we will. this stage makes hodge's kick kind of tiny but he's whupping it up pretty good - we get that second chorus of "the eureka moment" for the first time this tour, yatta - good going, hodge!  as I was packing up - I like to do that immediately after we finish, still sitting in my chair, so glad folks are letting me do that - I just get done when la-ni from girls with guns comes to catch up w/me. she was a real good friend of brother steve who also played in her pop's band. brother steve's good friend mike dingle's here too and says hi - that's all he says he can say cuz he says he's got work in the moonging, very kind of him. gig/padboss ceej helps me schlep my bass stuff to the new boat, taking direction very well! I get us back to ray and robbin's pad in oak-town pretty late... yeah, the latest konk of the tour so far... crimony! thursday, september 14, 2023 - atascadero, ca from mike: Maybe blew my voice Last night, trying to hear voice Over toy P.A. Great to see Brad here! ran into bro matt and claudia Really good gig here! from hodge: ok this gig went pretty well and the vibes were good in the club. manuel barba owns the record store right next to the venue. he let us use his place as our green room, really clean restroom and a whole bunch of great records and tons of turntables, tuners and amps for stereos, cassette player too. anywho i was sweating it cause after sound check i could not find my van key. i turned bof my gig bags completely empty twice. searched my area on stage. ok i am aware that i can be at times a chronic second guesser. i do the logical thing then act like i didn't . i turn the place upsidedown then when i look in the logical spot and there it is. tonight the van key was hanging on the tuning peg on the side of my floor tom the whole time. from watt: last night I konked w/out my nightwear on purpose so I wouldn't get too comfortable and miss the appointment mike made for me a few days ago... the new boat's oddometer reads 2772 miles so I'm gonna take her in for her very first maintenance. uptown ford of oakland is on a little ways aways from ray and robbins, the jefe there, tim, is most kind - I'm the first vehicle to get worked on for the day, I'm out in like two hours. while I was waiting I was working on photos for the diary - I get so late w/getting them, damn me w/a thousand backhands for that. I find out that these new boats maintenance is every five thousand miles - two more than the old boat. crimony. I get her back to ray and robbin's pad - the weather's gray but soon the sun burns through. miss hiyori boils up some eggs and I chow a salad she got me when she went shopping for the eggs. there's a bathtub here that's real deep and it's also got those jets that are especially good for the bottoms of the feet and the lower back. crimony, I have a good long hot fuckin soak. whoa, I'm the most relaxed ever so far this tour. actually I'm really relieved that the new boat's been maintenanced cuz the two am konk last night kind of worried me... so glad stuff worked out, so glad.  right at one we pull anchor, so very VERY kind of ray and robbin, truly. bye bye oak-town. I wheel us around the east part of the bay on a couple of I-80 belts (belts go even numbers starting them I-580, I-680) to san jose where I get us on us-101 and south through cali's central costal valley. mike's never been through here before. we pass exits for monterey where I learned to drive manual which was a total pants-shitter for me... my pop had me do it in man-alone mode after instructing me jake holman-style (read "the sand pebbles" or see the movie... it's also where the name "mssv" comes from). what a pants shitter. got to do the monterey jazz festival in 2005 w/perk and nels too. crimony! john scofield so very kind. at three get gas in soledad (later I told brad in a-town it's soldier when of course it's loneliness... what else you gonna call a prison?) for $5.40/gallon and some almonds prolly grown not too far away. right at five bells I pull us into atascadero - my first time here - well, not on purpose cuz I've nearby san luis obispo buttloads of times in the old days. there was a chow pad repurposed on a hill at the oso offramp... maybe "loco ranchero" maybe? (brother sal's the knowledge man). brad talks w/me about a dream he had and I think it means something - I think dreams are for helping to reconcile things that are going on when we ain't dreaming. he builds resonator guitars at national reso-phonic guitars (that's how mike knows him) w/his bassman in neabry slo-town. we talk about rick, richard and levon - robbie scripting lots of the springboard for them and gareth the only one left now (talking about the band). I tell him how I dig how econo the first verse of "the weight" is, so fuckin econo! crimony.  next door store traffic records owner manuel (they got a wild head here, I shit thee not) helps me w/getting on the internet - I show him a photo of this record he had in an econo-rack outside his pad on the sidewalk:  he didn't know he had it! anyway, he's offered us his store as a backstage for the gig, mot kind of him. I think I'm staying here in the gig pad though and chimp diary... first I meet a bunch of cats that come up to spiel w/me, one at a time - very king. there's a cat named john from not too far from the navy housing I came to in north part of pedro (no longer pedro, that area have now annexed themselves to rancho palos verdes!) and we exchange memories we got of being boys around there - this is before I met d boon - I met d boon AFTER I left navy housing there - in fact pretty much a couple days right after I moved next to peck park. crimony. another man talks to me about seeing us minutemen w/charlie haden at mccabes... says he met charlie w/his standup bass on a subway train in new york city, charlie told him it wouldn't fit in a cab! crimony. sal espana, a cat from pedro I know from the old days in pedro who's lived in this area a long time... he asks me about this proj and music I'm doing - asks me about recording w/mr jim keltner and I can't stop spieling about how fucking righteous it was bof time, I cannot.  I chow this fucking happening falafel mike brings me from a block or two away, whoa it's good. love this kind of stuff, most bitchin hummus w/a puddle of olive oil in it along w/that sauce those who know know... a quarter pita for each falaf ball w/that tanini - happening garlic kickin like kato and tomatoes - maybe my first tomatoes of the tour! thank you mike... he also gets me topo chico aqua - we discuss the water thing and I enlighten him to the fact I like doing the gig so please no fuckin bottles or glasses of water on stage to fall over, no fuckin towels to get caught up in my crutch - maybe a cold water in the new boat cuz my plan mostly is once we get done playing is pack up my stuff and get it to the new boat. water there can get drunk by me way safer. water w/the chow is the other time it's happening but that's it, just two times and no towels. I think it's fucking way together that he asks me about such things. I like the way mike doesn't implement that _assume_ word much, I really do appreciate it and am most grateful. brad (the man w/the dream) is not only the soundman but is also in the opening trio, it's called pronto (can't find an internet link) and the go at seven and a half... brother matt's here w/claudia - FUCK YEAH! righteous to see him, absolute! he asks about the tour and I give him as full report as I can regarding the sitch we're bof here sharing. love this man. we've been doing my show together for twentytwo years four months now. crimony. love this man.  really dig hitting at twenty of nine also, yes! we bring it - best time yet I think w/that "boat song" except for watt's spiel part - I think I also brought the first chorus of "french road drifters" in too soon also, damn me. besides that though I think we do good and the atascadero gig-goers bring us back for more. real hard for me to leave the stage to come back on... kind of awkward. I get some help from brad's bassman, a very kind cat and we spiel about bass (surprise!) 'till traffic records manuel brings into his shop to sign stuff - his buddy, a philosophy professor at cal poly has buttloads of minutemen records to sign and I give him the scoop (as much as I can w/the time allowed) on each he's got. I tell him "blue and brown books!" (ala mr wittgenstein)... manuel tells me about seeing me the first time, in pasadena... he describes the pad - I remember, maybe it's on raymond street I ask? he says yes! of course I think of my raymond. I sent him these three semi-sonnets I wrote for him right before this tour: semi-sonnet one when sixtysix orbits kick in your hatch and big time ugly you up beyond belief, your yoof outfiit way older now than satch worth what? a fuckin tinker's fuckin screech? where's still that part? the part you kept art that mighty bonus batch you birthed/unearthed for bof opened and closed eyes, stuffed w/darts darts stuffed w/idiot words self-girthed instead why not bring forth the next shift part? opposite of becoming one's own foe cuz you're the lock that fits the key of art man, are we counting on you to bring it man alone, man alone just won't get it semi-sonnet two less much younger we find our fuckin selves all tore up by the trials of being alive "youth wasted on the young" some cats might tell maybe the one's who've lived that are less jive then you being leaned on to bring your art the fruit of orchards grown from living life through your own eyes sifting through all the parts that rip and tear into your heart like a knife and just like your son, that piece you helped brung will bring some truth to my stumblebum spiel yeah, he'll "sum your count" the greek chorus sung making it fact by being it most real we become used to be by bringing the now teaching me bravery by showing how semi-sonnet three you mirror the man in the mirror, man while your boy mirrors that man's mirror'd man this next shift is the big gift from your hand can a brush be ma w/the hand being dad? yeah, plowing up bean fields and tossing seeds no thoughts about tomorrow or the next shift painting on the bulkheads instead of sheaves the question when and not insisting if estonian mirror makes up your one half remember "shem's a sham but shaun's a ham" bof sides looking forward and reflecting back your creations transcend the spectral span beyond the limits of the lonely cell the gallery of buttloads dumps its fill I sign this young bass player's bass and a giant handmade poster he's got - I mean GIANT - of the cover of the minutemen "buzz or howl..." record - the one joe baiza drew. crimony. I am really surprised but also very grateful for such a thing. it's on a kind of a cloth, very original. whoa. good people here tonight, truly. I am most grateful. brother matt and claudia got us a room at a nearby 'tel called "the carlton" - can you believe, so kind, truly. beautiful people so generous. wore out is watt, big time though and I konk real quick. one more weekend left for this first leg of the tour. friday, september 15, 2023 - oceanside, ca from mike: This leg ends soon, so We grab me a rental car More clouds, throat still hurts Found nature preserve Small but served for a quick hike Here, in oceanside Good to see sppike now! They play 10 minutes over Its ok, we play great! from hodge: oceanside california where the traffic on the 405 fwy finally subsides, we blame camp pendelton for having no off-ramps for miles. the pour house, really fine venue, had a pleasant surprise my pal tryan donath was playing her piano with her drummer mathew, for happy hour. my pal billy watson great songwriter and band leader had told me about angelo's burgers in oceanside, my trusty google maps (very handy for the traveling person) so angelo's is 5 minutes walking. i'm in i get there and the burger menu is so vast it's confusing me, so i had a chili and cheese omlete, really good. back at the club we are set up really well, eye contact is so easy breezy. band is playing great the drum mics start falling off of the drums, plus they forgot to mic the rack tom the rack tom. ( this was a no sound check get up up on stage and blow) the only mic left except the bass drum which hopefully was in place all night, so the only mic left was the floor tom, i'm kinda well fuck it so while we're playing i try to knock it off with my hand, turns out it's the only clamp worth a carp so i end up knocking the floor tom over. soundman comes to rite it, i say let's pull the mic the rest of the mics are gone anyway. after the set we spoke he was amazed how well my drums projected without the mics. god bless the bass drum mic it's the weakest drum of any kit trying to fight it's way thru a band mix. from watt: pop at seven bells. hodge suggested last night before konk we pull anchor at eight cuz he got info from his leash it might be a fucking plug for our ride to oceanside today and damn if I were to bet my life against a donut w/my own assessment based on buttloads of experience w/fucking so cal stau shite... yeah 310 miles on a friday through bof ventura, l.a. and orange counties, crimony! good call, hodge. we pull anchor at eight - big time to brother matt and claudia for making this room at this 'tel happen for us, can't wait to see him again in our pedro town. we pass a sign that says "learning by doing" and damn if that don't make a buttload of sense w/this mssv band... actually, I believe that goes back w/me when I was first a minuteman w/d boon and georgie - crimony! weather is marine layer gray... typical of so cal, it'll prolly burn off into bright sun. I get us south on us-101 and the plan is to drop mike off at a car rental pad in santa maria cuz he can save like $700 vs getting somewhere not way out here. only fifty miles and we're there, make the drop (we'll see him in oceanside) and hodge has to piss so I pull into a crapdonald's nearby and that's where I get some real nice aggression from a pendejo but I won't roll down my window to hear it, won't look either... "you don't wrassle a pig cuz you'll bof get dirty and the pig likes it," correct? what a fucking clown. like I was gonna cut off a truck to make like I was this chump's remote in his hand in front of his fucking tv? fuck that. we continue on and get some more bullshit on a cut-off called the chumash highway (ca-154) that hodge' leash advises us to use (mike had to take his w/him, of course) and it being a one laner means fuckers who wanna come on butch w/shitty driving 'pert-near cause a nightmare by passing where the cat in front was making a port turn (why I had to slow down) and we're all very lucky w/that dice roll - what a fucking pendejo. there's bunches of this stuff - one reason why I don't dig one lane roads. the new boat can do the speed limit no prob, no matter what the grade but these assholes are just that. fuck it, no more time here wasted on them. trippy w/hodge in the passenger seat, he usually is in the seat behind it... makes sense though cuz otherwise I'd be in total chauffeur mode, correct? not that I would mind. we talk about helping mike out w/more dynamics to help this new phase of his music he's bringing, this phase using his voice, more and more. toy p.a. systems don't help but we can if we get even more dramatic w/the forte/piano stuff - hodge makes a good point, he says bb king would stop playing when it sang. yep, I remember that and it was great technique. I get us back on us-101 and through santa barbara and then camarillo - mike jammed w/peter there the week before tour started, onward through simi valley, san fernando valley and on to I-405 south over the sepulveda pass... we pass the getty center where my old buddy richard fuckin bonney put in the toilets when he was doing plumbing work. there's plug here 'til we get past the I-10 and then onward past the harbor freeway (it ends - or begins - in my pedro town!)   ...into orange county where the carpool lane helps us out. plug returns when were dumped onto the I-5 but leaving early really made things a lot calmer then it could've been - I shit thee not. I pull us over to get gas in san juan capistrano but it takes thee tries to find a pad that ain't bullshit - the first one had this doof in einstein mode leave for the store w/the pump going - fuck!? I back right up and am out. we do find a vallerio at $5.80/gallon which is thirty-fifty cents cheaper than these other fucking burn wards. I chow some hardboiled eggs w/the rest of yesterday's almonds when I get us back on. traff ok as we pass the shutdown san onofre reactors and camp pendleton... a few miles to go and it's total plug - so glad we ain't go the thirtyfive more miles to if it was san diego. I don't play much in oceanside but am so glad we are tonight. I'm tuckered. we made it safe though, success. a new pad for me, the pour house, it's in the south part of town. 'pert-near three bells. I go across the street to a coff pad cuz there's internet and I didn't have a chance this morning to put out for flow for tonight. no soundcheck for us tonight, I think we can handle it. this band is really getting it together. a block away is some chow pad called "pch grill" or something that mike gets a salmon salad from for me, I supplement it the "hello spicy" sauce. real simple but fucking good and feeling real healthy. thanks big time mike. I konk in the new boat, I'm fucking beat BUT happy we're safe. good to see mike - he said he witnessed a car "fully-engulfed" (insane how casual newspeople announce that on the radio), must've been behind us... I konk really hard.  it's dark when I pop to piss and hear jazz improvising... turns out hodge's buddy pianolady taryn donath did a like a happy hour set w/a drummer to kick things off way before the actual gig openers spice pistols (bassman sppike mike is real good people) go on... the hit at quarter of ten. they get stuff lit... we play w/them again tomorrow night too. sppike mike has always been real kind to me - he's working a wattplower bass! quarter of eleven and we're running late... I kind of urge hodge to bring it even though he had to bring his drum stuff from outside! crimony. he does really good though, oh man - he's lit for "say what you gotta say" and elevates it to a whole other level while AT THE SAME time brings in this dynamic to help mike's voice - mike's got the dilemma a lot of many-gigs-in-a-row music cats face w/the voice: getting it beat up. I can vouch for forty years plus of that. BUT, it also helps the guitar too... sort of like the way a lighting cat works the stage for a theatre piece, capito? I mean the set has clams - one new one ("careful what you wish for" - during my spiel part) got totally clammed but like a band that's really connect and not just doofs in man-alone mode spitting out parts like it was getting fed a paper scroll w/holes in it like a fuckin player piano ("see you at the finish line" crap) - the band is in the moment and swerves to avoid more hell, course-corrects and keeps the fuckin keel in the water! amen. I am really digging it, really am... feels real good w/cats who truly believe in these kind of ethics and not just wear them on the shirt sleeve to front some fuckin jive. I think just like w/the way some pendejos drive on the road, humans can really fuck things up for themselves and the rest of us - yeah, that can apply to artistic expression also in my thinking. anyway, one of the best gigs of the tour in my mind - I was thinking a lot about o (otis barthoulameu) who was a beautiful cat we lost a few months ago while he was skateboarding. he'd come to all my gigs in the san diego area, always most happening to see him and hear his spiel, getting into raps w/him. we never how long our shift is, huh? love you big time o... this gig was for you... pack up my stuff and sure appreciate the most kind gig-goers to let me do that... speaking of dynamics, there was a point in the set where this guy says into my ear (yeah, the pad's stage is low enough and w/me in a chair near its edge that he can literally talk into my ear) "turn the bass up, mike" and I say back w/out even looking "no" cuz damn if it ain't part of the tune to be little like that to set up the blaster part when it comes from a build-up, like what in the fucking fuck, can't he let us develop the piece? I ain't personally angry w/him cuz I think it's a trendy thing w/some people these days to bumrush gigs - maybe they need to get their own band going so they won't feel frustrated about their own expression? I don't know, was king of weird. soundman ray was really good to me and helped w/the bass amp schlep, taking real good direct w/the pack into the new boat also. respect. nothing like having a happening "fourth man" for the power trio gig we bring, truly. there were prob like mics falling off hodge's drums (lame clips, I had him unhook the cable in fact toto kill the "live mic on the deck" prob - feedback shit)... hey, life deals you a hand and gotta play it the best you can, correct? my old buddy teej from hurricane kate and his new guitarman blake come by the new boat and I catch him up some of my new music stuff: me and raul having lots of prac on eleven tunes for the next missingmen album. also, new two-man band w/brother steve reed (goes back to "contemplating the engine room" w/watt and touring - helped me sing besides mix it live, here's him w/us for the five man opera version) called _steel sense_ (you know about 1943 pennies, correct? I found one right before our first jam in my prac pad!), him on drums w/me on bass and bof us singing always, gonna be a trip. looks like maybe first time mssv overseas for two weeks in scotland-wales-england in march/april 2023 window, later me w/il sogno del marinaio on the continent for our "terzo" third album tour and then for my sixtyseven bday, start the second secondmen album. crimony. one last cat tells me about him and his shovelhead build proj - yes, he knows about huggy bear - MUCH respect! love cats working w/their harnds, love it. mike heads off to echo park in his rental car. the rest of us pull anchor in the new boat. bye bye oceanside... kind of hellride for me to hodge's pad in east strong beach but would've been more heavy trying to get to my pedro town after. hodge really helped by spieling w/me the whole way, most grateful to him. what did we discus? this new dimension of bring another side of dynamics to mssv to help mike not only w/his health but evolving the band... really think this gig was the start of a real sea-change for us. fuck, I konk in moments at like two in the fuckin morning after putting out the next-gig-blast. crimony... saturday, september 16, 2023 - costa mesa, ca from mike: Woke with congestion i think i'm just sick here now Throat feeling better? Good thing about this Sickness? We been talking more Ways to help vocals Got down to O.C. Really like this pad, Eric Jeff and everybody I see sppike again! He tells me not to worry He dont know me well! I wish we had fixed Stage setup before we played Could have played better But a good first leg Always proud of this band and Our evolution! from hodge:  from watt: pop at seven - yeah even w/the fucking two bell konk time, shit can get ingrained in you, correct. good to not live all life on auto-pilot though... hodge's pad is bitchin, has great spirit and I dig it much. east long beach... fuck, hodge is a total long beach man - his folks were from long beach! respect. he'll be seventytwo come this next february - me, sixtysix in december. our mssv boss mike is fortyfour now, crimony! me and hodge rap about last night's gig and what a sea-change maybe it made for the band, this other layer of dynamics (we already got it going w/the second mssv album) that's developing - hodge really kicked it off when he brought up for example mr bb king... seeing him letting go of the guitar after a righteous lead and grabbing the mic to sing - I'm thinking about d boon in my "the punch line" tune for the minutemen - ok, he added some fuckin happening dancing to go w/it but the audio dynamic that really buoyed the piece, love it! "learning by doing" - fuckin great strategy to help evolution. hodge cooks up for us a breakfast saute of onions, jalapeno, garlic, tomato glued together w/egg after bacon cooked in it - really fucking tasty, I'm most grateful.  I'm also glad I shaved after I hosed off - gotta do that more regular, fuckin baka of me. I chimp diary while hodge goes to lomita to get his own tshirts to be slung three bells w/shove of for costa mesa, about twenty miles away, near the beach (but not on), in orange county. weather is marine layer gray and traff ain't that bad down the I-405 south... I get us in twenty minutes before the four bell load-in time, yatta. mssv played here on last year's tour but damn if we need there was back way - gigboss eric welcomes us at the hatch and enlightens us to that fact, yatta - safe for the new boat too (locking gate). I back the new boat in and drop anchor. I do roll my speakerbox in but am so useless w/schlep - the big reason I do all the wheel work, wanna pull my share. two doors down is "la lomita"      ...I get three pastor tacos and some jarritos mineraagua. I go to the new boat to chow them and also call my sister melinda on my leash and tell her I'll be chowing w/her like I usually do when in our pedro town on sunday morning even though I'll be coming from hodge's pad. she's been getting my mail while I'm gone, actually she's helped me buttloads my entire life. I'm most grateful to her - hell, put her my second opera as "saint melinda" and that was just some hagio-crap, believe you me. crimony. bob-san yanks my leash from his pad near 'burque - he's coming to our gig there friday. he asks about miss hiyori... miss hiyori has really been hurting and it breaks my heart. the skin on her neck is really hurt, a result of some quack jive-doc (I'm not anti doc but this prick was an asshole) giving her a "treatment" w/steroids and intense-light hit that has really hurt and now it's taking forever to heal... she hurts so bad, breaks my heart. I wish so bad I could do something to help. she real plows on, incredible will power... very inspiring. mike's gonna see a doc tomorrow (this first of two legs of this tour stops after tonight for three days) to check that hernia dr ray found back in oak-town plus he's got an ass-kicking head-cold-whatever... he's wearing a mask though a covid19 test said negative. man, I really feel for him also. crimony, hodge is the only one (remember I've got this fucked up port-side knee) who ain't walking wounded w/our team. crimony. good spiel w/gigboss eric, very friendly man, very cool people. check sound w/soundman jeff, another nice cat. this had gotta be the best chair watt has got to use on this tour yet:  respect to this pad! I go to the new boat to chimp diary and after not too long, hodge brings me a plate of asada the kitchen cooked up for him, whoa. he also tries to give me stuff to chow it w/and I ask him "what?!?" I've used hashi for 'pert-near twenty years now. c'mon, hodge! a gig-goer named anthony from pico rivera comes to rap w/me - once fIREHOSE played in his back yard - he now he wants to celebrate his sixtieth bday w/tonight's gig, said he brought thirty of his family. man, I gotta play good for him. he's been at lots of my gigs over the years, cats like this are so generous, I really REALLY am grateful to them, to stick w/me all this time. I'm beat and konk hard missing openers the pegs and spice pistols (they're w/us again), damn me but I got only so much "fuel in the tank" so to speak. I wish I could see every band I get to play w/cuz lots of times it fires me up for when it's my turn. oh well. so sorry. I just can't get sick and being too tired can help that nightmare so I swerve to avoid. quarter of ten and it's our turn - hey, our setup ain't like at soundcheck... this kind of makes for a reason it's kind of a tough set for us - hard to make contact w/hodge's ojos for me - remember I'm kind of static like him but they call what he sits on a throne. I would say the same about the chair I'm using tonight! anyway, the prob ain't the chair but where it's positioned - same w/the amp, that got changed too... I think we're underutilizing our soundcheck time - it ain't just for soundcheck in my mind but also getting together the setup we're gonna do the gig w/and that means maximize the connects between all three of us. it's hermano anthony's bday though so I wanna play good for him, trying my best. one thing I do w/my trios is use tape to "spike" or mark where it seems best to put everything so when it comes time to play (usually you gotta move stuff after soundcheck to make way for the cats you're sharing the stage w/) and this helps buttloads w/getting right back to where you worked on earlier. we ain't been doing that. when I get back to pedro I'm getting two more rolls of yellow gaffers tape (already got one inside the new boat) so we can start implementing that strategy to see if it helps mssv. the gig-goers are still very generous w/us though and give us an encore - I really dig how mike never "milks" an encore - for example, there wasn't one in oak-town. another thing that gave me trouble was my fucking fingernails... I can't play w/out them being real little - that for sure ain't either mike or hodge's fault, only stonato watt and I got get together, put a pair of nailclippers on the console of the new boat, like the old boat. a very kind security man helps me schlep the bass amp once I get every packed. he is blown away how light the stuff is, yes! he takes direction good and loads into the new boat just right, respect to him, sorry I didn't get his name but I am most grateful to him. I'm waiting for hodge to load his last drum stuff into the new boat, a young man from japan (goes by the handle 'kimpilla' on instantham) comes up to the window and tells me he came to the u.s. for just three days to see some "soul girl" kind of band in hollywood and this gig. crimony... so very kind of him. we talk a bunch... he's got a band called thpy - only live recordings so far (here and here) but wants to go into the studio w/his guys soon as they can. I tell him ganbatte! ('go for it!' in his speech), now this is some real inspiration for me, love hearing stuff like this.  we (minus mike cuz he's now in man-alone mode in a rented vehicle) shove off hodge's pad again, so grateful to him to make this happen. I'm really fuckin beat. whoa. even w/the tough gig I'm happy cuz I think we can learn from it AND we got this first leg of this tour now in the sack! wednesday, september 20, 2023 - joshua tree, ca from mike: We get back today Nice surprise visit from Des And, of course, Trooper Feeling better too From this strange sinus cold thing boat packed, and we're off Rough road, pretty views To the gig spot - Joy plays great many nice folks come out! from hodge: first day back after a three day break in the action. Joshua tree such a eerie beautiful location. we had friends in the house for sure. peter fahey long time friend and musical buddy and his gal isobel so lovely to see them! danny frankel and his wife mimi long time pal great musician and funny person on this earth, we shared a great love and appreciation for our late great buddy ralph carney, ralph and i met on the raindogs tour for tom waits such a great artist we really miss him! it was beautiful tuning my drums and seeing the desert horizon, such a special beauty in the desert. see you later. from watt: I always chow breakfast w/my sister melinda on sundays when I'm in our pedro town and that's what the case was on sunday. she gets my mail when I'm on tour but she's done so much for me all our lives... I put her in my second opera - she's "saint melinda" and deserved it BIG TIME, earned it! trippy about having three days off - trippy for me having two legs of tour here but I thought it was time to think about things and not doing stuff just cuz, you know? "the examined life is worth living" or something like that - did I get it wrong. the last three days for morning chow it's been different combinations of saute w/ground turkey combined w/brussel sprouts/artichokes, w/broccoli/cauliflower (all vegs frozen on the field) another and then the last of the brown rice pasta - I don't want anything there to rot when I'm gonna be gone for six and half weeks, capito? take the new boat to hodge's pad in long beach via terminal island and the two bridges connecting it to the mainland, the vincent thomas on our side...  ...and the long beach international gateway (replaced the gerald desmond not too long ago), bye bye pedro...  ten and a half we start the pack at hodge's w/buttloads of stuff but somehow get it all in. crimony. even the bergantino nxt 212 speakerbox which I decided to continue using cuz it doubles as a walker cuz of its casters and the barefaced super contact doesn't have those. nmike put casters on his speakerbox but did it amateur-hour style w/woodscrews instead of tnuts/bolts way-to-go method ("do it correct, do it once"), we pull anchor for the long beach airport at eleven at a half cuz mike's gotta return his rental. no prob w/that, we got about 140 mile drive to joshua tree near the mojave desert, that's where the second leg of this tour begins. in coronoa I pull us over twenty after noon at an "arco" to fuel up $6.16/gallon... they got 'topo-chico' - yatta! it's my favorite agua con gas - I get a bottle (the rilakkuma next to it is from the old boat)...  our route is mainly east on ca-91 'til I-10 and then north on ca-62, we get to the firehouse outpost just about three bells - the last mile and a half unpaved and pretty much a teeth-rattler. crimony. I played here last year w/galecstasy, making an album w/them the day before at their pad not too far away. good people. gigboss grant is also in the opening band called joy - so is john who is helping out on p.a. first load-out of the second leg was kind of a pants-shitter cuz a sack of stuff fell against the inside lock of the rear hatch and the power lock trip couldn't open but luckily the manual part of the key did the trick w/me turning it w/my hand, whoa. this fuckup was also in the old boat so I take a little box used to hold d boon stickers in and "attach" it to the new boat's starboard rear hatch OVER the lock "lever" (or whatever the fuck it's called) on w/the yellow duct tape I got us (actually for 'spike and strike' at soundcheck!) to hopefully protect this from happening again... could've been a really fucking lame thing, truly.  this yellow duct tape - it's real important... I got bof mike and hodge each their own role cuz this is what us missingmen and secondmen have learned to do: spike and strike. "spike" is marking where your stuff seems best to put on the stage, something you figure out at soundcheck and make sure everyone's copacetic about it. "strike" is moving your stuff to make room for the other bands so they can set up for their performances. having your stuff's locations "spiked" (two piece of tape to make an L or U shape) is where it's at if you wanna quickly "recreate" what you got going earlier during your check come gig time, capito? so glad we're getting into this. avoiding the cholla - yeah, teddy bear cholla - believe you me: you don't wanna cuddle w/this kind of teddy bear, no! ask secondmen drummerman jer trebotic about chollas, he'll tell you! crimony.  I go to the new boat to konk on the rolled-out yoga matt at the foot of the back seats... I'm woke up from the sound of joy playing (joy is the name of the band!), I hear them and dig it. I'm thinking I wanna invite these guys to be on the watt from pedro show - I'll ask them later when everything's done. our turn is at eight pm, love the early time. brother twan is here, says hi to me right before we begin, so good to see him. maybe he lives out here now? always get fired up w/brother twan at the gig, always! we really use dynamics due to this pad actually being a big room w/two big hatches - this made for two smaller fire engines - and plus we wanna get back the vibe we were developing back in oceanside last friday. of course I'm muted when we start and then when I do come in, it's at a place where mike ain't ready for - crimony. we don't stop though, we just give the joshua tree gig-goers a very specific to them version! we get it together though and rally good... these gig-goers are most kind to us and brings happening support. there's two concentric circles of lights were playing in, like they were garlands for an xmas but white instead of different colors. that's trippy. again, let me e'splain: yeah, I fucked up the first tune by having the mute switch on the amp on, when I got that together I thought I go to the chords where they should be in relation to where hodge was w/his drums but mike I think I started from da capo and even it's his song... well, it was an interesting version and we finished tight so like ig said about working a tune live like it was sandwich, the two pieces of bread being the beginning (hodge started us off strong) and the end (like I said: guten-tight) so maybe whatever between bof those were whatever they were - I learned so much from ig! crimony. me and hodge being this close and bof sitting down really makes a difference. mike's the only one "coming out of the cake" but he don't mind. the gig is happening, especially coming off the three-day no-plays - I dedicate our encore to kevin of the urinals - saying it was "motorboat from hell" but in fact though meant big time for him it wasn't.  right when we get done john talley-jones comes up to me to say hi - I knew he moved here from pasadena a little while ago... kat's here too, righteous! can't tell you how much urinals shaped minutemen, can't tell you... we covered their "ack ack ack" (we cut out an "ack" cuz we cut out a verse w/our version - john made a video for it here) 'pert-near every gig! so econo. he said we did a trippy version of "motoboat from hell" - love this man. his wife kat's here also, so goo to see her. a young man named chris who's pop brought from irvine cuz it's the only all-ages show of the tour, said it was his first gig and you know what? I was fifteen when I went to my first gig - it was w/d boon and it was t-rex at the long beach auditorium fifty years ago, maybe this month even? crimony! he's a real nice young man... later mike tells me he's got a band called _grubber_ - fuck yeah! drummerman danny frankel's here, lives out here - I'm in a proj w/him call afternoon freak and chapter four is his turn to start all the wails! can't wait to dig into that, love danny. this lady says hi to me she says from drummerman dougie bowne - that bass in the tune nels cline wrote for us "loose stone fresh oil" I did for dougie during the sitch when were making music talking about it and yuka honda I think repurposed just for something w/nels for mssv. crimony! derek monypeny's here too, he's a local and I'm gonna do a duet w/him in november at his pad. "double nickels..." cover photo taker dirk + svenja from germany also are here, dirk so kind to help me schlep my stuff to the new boat. lots of kindness from the folks here tonight, very kind. old friend kim white's sister kristie's here also and says hi, she doesn't know about my knees so I let her know. her husband tony 19 was HUGE influence on me... he still is, still is... love that man. I talk outside the new boat w/the joy cats grand and john about being on the show and so glad they're into it. we're konking at kim white's pad in not too far away landers and get to her pad just before ten bells, yes! love it. bob lawton's here - actually I saw him at the gig, he had the hardboiled eggs we 'pert-near donated - thank you bob! an east-coaster, he had a booking company w/the man I've been w/over thirtyfive years, steve kaul - it was called "twin towers" and it's a trip to know now he's a desert cat. respect. inflate the air mattress - that glass table is now gone (so sadly too is alan, crimony), not much spiel cuz I'm really tuckered. the mssv "aki tour 2023" second leg is ON! I konk, awake set to OFF... thursday, september 21, 2023 - las vegas, nv from mike: Kim and Bob - thank you! We can see the milky way From here, the desert First time in vegas Pretty much as expected Traffic and neon Meet gigboss Patrick He's very cool, watt guards boat We get outta dodge from hodge:   from watt: pop at six. last night before konking, I asked kim white the coff sitch... she told me she scissored coff (I tell her I scissored alcohol) but she said had some strong tea. well, it takes me a while to figure out the device she uses to heat up the water - I get the water hot but don't know it "dispense" so fucking it, I just pop the top and use a little metal pitcher to get some in it and put the tea sacks in that w/the water way hot enough, just short of boiling. when she gets up we talk about seandy, they were roommates and that's how we go to be frineds. loved seandy big time. talk about screaming trees too, her involvement (I took them on their first tw tours in the late 80s)... so sad about losing bassbrother van. losing people is something I never get use to. kim white lost her husband alan last year - last time I saw him was in this pad. crimony. learning about the loss of life is a very hard teacher for watt. next month it'll be four years since I lost my ma... lots my pop in 1991... the next missingmen album I'm calling "dick + jean watt" and we'll start recording it the upcoming twenty december, my sixtysix bday - I think I mentioned that already in this diary already. crimony. it's on my mind a lot... missingmen tom watson wrote me an email this morning which is very happening. he was a week in the hosp and I was very worried... maybe someone stole his leash while he was there? he's got an old one now he can connect w/me and missingmen drummerman raul - he was real worried too... we bof love tom much and want him better, to have his health and also make our team whole. you don't see a three-legged stool standing much on just two legs, correct? music has helped me so much w/my health, I think it can w/tom too. me and d boon put out the first slovenly (the band tom was in after he was in toxic shock) record like forty years ago? man, that's a buttload of years. bob lawton makes me some scrambled eggs that got some spinach in it and kim white gives me this real dense slice of bread made w/sprouts and seeds instead of flour - really fuckin good!   pull anchor at noon, bye bye kim white, bye bye bob lawton. some rough road before some paved but nothing like last night. we got about 235 miles to do today... I take us on ca-247 northwest (yeah, we gotta backtrack some) through the johnson valley, the lucerne valley and finally into bartsow where we pickup I-15 north to las vegas. just before yermo at one and a half I get us to a "mohsen" (? never heard of before) gas stop that's like thirty cents cheaper ($5.50/gallon) than the "arco" across the road at about one and a half. a sign in the window says "hand made tamales" but the counterman says the lady who makes ain't doing the today. oh well. I love tamales. hodge can't do the windshields cuz thre's no squeegee or water. crimony. he even asked me to park the new boat shere ther's shade cuz it helps him do a better job but it was to no avail. oh well. I ask mike to get a tie down to hold stuff on the shel and not going into the rear hatches. he spends much time while we continue on the interstage figuring out to get this piece of equipment together. crimony. lots of burn marks on the side of the road... mike tells us on his way to the costa mesa gig last saturday he saw a car "fully engulfed" as you hear so casually on the radio during traffic reports: first the fireball and then the pall of black smoke flooding from it. crimony. we debrief ourselves a little about last night, mike says we gotta get "super dumb" faster and kind careening feel that can't get happening w/me and hodge being too careful. makes sense. we pass the offramp for "zzyzyx road" (leads to a community w/the same name) - I've always wondered what that place it leads to and then name was about... a little further is baker, they claim to have the world's tallest thermometer. looks like it's had another incarnation since I last saw it... it reads eigthyfive degrees farenheit - that's at about its halfway point! crimony. we cross the border into nevada at three and a half... bye bye cali for the next six weeks... we get into the north part of las vegas (past the strip crap) and into the alley behind the griffin (where we're playing tonight) around four and a half... can't load in yet (gotta wait 'til six) so there's a public lot about a block and a half away w/a daily rate that pays by the license plate which means we can be here 'til load in time and then come back and not have to pay twice, poom-padda-pinga! mike said he spotted a taco pad so he goes for that why we stay w/the new boat, I chimp diary from the drivers seat. weather all day full blue skies and not too hot, I mean for here and no humidity. re-park the new boat where there's shad though cuz mike don't need to be drowning in heat lamp. the fuckin tacos are great, carnittas this time and authentica. bottle of jarritos mineragua also, most happening. six bells and I get us to the alley behind the gigpad, we load-in through their back hatch. I leave everyone to get the new boat back in the the load but damn if there's some weird stuff going on - I park right under the camera near a sign saying "all activity is recorded off-site" but there is trippy shit going so I ain't feel too secure about leaving the new boat and in fact yank on mike's leash to ask him and hodge to do soundcheck w/out me so I can do guardiano here w/the new boat. he agrees. thank you grazie mike. some cat w/a pickup towing a trailer pulls up behind the new boat not too long later and starts futzing w/a weed-wacker, a gas-powered week-wacker, out here in a asphalt lot, what? he tries and tries - got the gas can out and everything but it's a no-go, his sidemouse yanking out his leash every few moments for what the fuck? there's other guys w/similar red shirts like the sidemouse guy... are they connected to the nearby pawn shop or what? very strange. I'm real relieved when the weed-wacker guys gives up and drives his truck (and trailer) away cuz now the new boat is free. vey fucking strange... I tell mike and ask him to escort me when it's time to play. I really play good for the people in this town cuz I don't play here much. mike tells me the gigboss patrick's ma used to work for stt records, whoa! I wanna play real good tonight, don't wanna be distracted by any "sideshow" stuff. still, I worry... kind of a kvetch. no openers tonight, we're the only band. mike comes gets me ten minutes before the nine pm start. the "gig room" is in the back of this griffin bar... he's alongside me - I asked for escort instead of hobbling alone cuz of tonight's sitch. only time I'm away from the new boat tonight in this town and I worry... anyway, we bring our set right on time, las vegas gig-goers right there for us and in the moment. they let us bring them dynamics... they forgive us for 'pert-near blowing "pillow talk" out of the water - fuck, I thought I was out of tune, maybe I was a little flat but mike later told me he was on the other side of a chord cuz of distraction caused by vocal mic fuckup - actually boom stand... what a fucking kludge of a thing, huh? I hate using them and always go for straight stand BUT can't this tour cuz of being in chair. crimony. pretty good set despite some strange acoustic stuff cuz of the physical sitch but I'm into it. however, "the eureka moment" gives me trouble - I gotta talk to mike and hodge about this later cuz same thing happened last night... good to review stuff, I think - not a total kvetch but part of the process of being in a band, an ensemble. much good word from the las vegas gig-goers, so very kind of them, so very kind... watt's big time most grateful, truly.  I hobble to the new boat alone w/bof my bajo and back-pack-wack-sack (wore front-wise to accommodate the bolsa bajo) cuz I felt safe w/all the "street life" going on, buttloads of people doing their "good time" thing gives me a little confidence though I hobble w/the tsue ('stick" meaning crutch in nihon-go) quick as being safe will let me. the new boat's still there, yokatta... I get it in the back alley behing the gigpad w/some weaving cuz of peckers illegally parked and bogarting but not enough to completely plug, hallelujah. we get out of dodge ok and onward OUT from this town not too far to boulder city where mike has gotten us air b trip. seems good and safe to drop anchor and settle my weary self once the air mattress gets inflated. friday, september 22, 2023 - flagstaff, az from mike: Wake up near lake mead Don't get to see hoover dam Stomach feels grossv Cant eat unknown things On tour, i pay the price Each and every time Great to see Charles I nap before we play here Good gig with good sound! from watt: pop at six - prolly cuz no shades on the windows on this pad... I'm real sensitive to light when konked lots of times, one reason I used to use konkmasks a bunch... hose off w/no pressure, like someone less younger pissing on me from above... don't mean to belly-ache but the coff here is via bullshit k machine/syrup capsule jive - am so happy mike finds coff in what looks like a "planned community" type of "habitrail" trip. I forgot to mention yesterday that this tour leg I'm wearing a new yellow coat and new levis. I hate new levis all dark and shit but this way I'll get them lighter and at the same time be stronger against tears - the yellow coat HAD to be replaced cuz it was tore up real bad... maybe miss hiyori can sling it from the merch table? I took it just in case but I'm wearing this new one my ma gave me. well, not "new" but never wore... actually my ma gave me five yellow coats I never wore cuz I don't really like wearing shit that ain't broke in... the other four are waiting I guess for this to get used up. same w/levis - these ain't really new but never worn. my bday is near xmas so for bof days my ma and my sister melinda would each get me a pair so I have buttloads that have never been on me. crmiony. I am wearing the same tour shirt used on first leg of tour but now festooned w/safety pin I found near the gigpad in joshua tree back on wednesday. I chimp diary 'til time to shove off at eleven, we'll have 224 miles mile to cover today.  sunny skies and not too hot... 19.1 miles per gallon now on the new boat instrument panel, working towards more econo: training that gas pedal foot, training that brake pedal foot... looking down the road and getting the big picture, keeping the safe cushions fore and aft of us - shit like this also keeps me alert in the moment, digging it. in the old days you drove right over hoover dam to get across the colorado river here to get into arizona from nevada but now you can't even see the dam on the I-11 that you have to take now. oh well, had to be I guess since after the september 11, 2001 nyc stuff... not long and it's bye bye nevada - it's a short little interstate, I get us south on us-93 towards kingman... I remember this being a scary road but it's calm now except for those choosing to drive like pendejos but what can be done about that? at twelve and a half, just east of where I get us on I-40 east at kingman and the yank us to a "flying mascis" where mike fuels up the new boat at $4.30/gallon - cheapest yet on tour? trippy me not fueling us up on tour, still ain't used to that but it makes good sense cuz it's a mssv tour. I think some cats don't realize that... just cuz I'm on bass doesn't mean it's my proj or I write the tunes... it ain't some kind of "servitude" or whatever, it's about taking turns... I got plenty of opportunities where I'm the shot-caller so why not learn to take direction myself if I'm also at times dishing it out? for me life is about taking turns, piece it out - exploring stuff. mike's gotta dump bad so just before two I get us off at seligman so he can take care of that at full-on kitsch-stop ("historic route-66 general store") full of olde-timey stuff w/no dust on any of it - do they got somebody to dust like motherfuckers or what? lots of I-40 follows on or near the old route 66 (or us-66) and I get it's a way to promote shit to sling... a lot of towns that the interstate bypassed (being a military road, it was designed for that purpose in mind) and so towns that existed cuz of the actual route 66 "died on the vine" so to speak w/the change. mike's dump taken care of, I get us back on our way and one minute early from the expected three and a half arrival time, I get the culo of the new boat on the alley hatch of tonight's gigpad, the orpheum theater - a block from the old route 66 (it used to go down the main street of towns it ran through - maybe I forgot to mention it was the main way to get from chi-town to l.a. before the ike's interstate system?) - when the new boat gets unloaded for the load-in, I bring her about to drop anchor right in front of the hatch to the dressing room via helperman anthony's help. we talk about the old boat and the new boat - he just did a rocky mountain tour in an econoline - he knows! much respect. dressing room has first chips con salsa of the tour! "my nana's" salsa and pretty happening flavor. thank you gracias. mike from the opening band fat gray cat is here w/lots of stuff for me to sign, very kind of him for the support, him getting all that. of course I will sign! we do soundcheck w/soundman scotty and monitorman lou, good cats. right after in the dressing room (really close form stage port, happening!), I get to talk w/missingmen guitarman tom watson via facetime but w/no video - so fucking what - I get to talk w/missingmen guitarman tom watson! I think the last time we spoke was when the missingmen opened for pere ubu back on june twentytwo up in highland park at the lodge room - fuckin 'pert-near three months! I mean we exchanged lots of little emails but no fucking spiel w/each other, crimony! his voice sounded good - I was so worried cuz of him just in the hosp. we talk about his health and stuff, he's got some anemia (blood) issues and side-effects resulting from trying out medicines to help. man, I miss him. we talk about our upcoming missingmen album w/raul - he's way into this upcoming december twenty start time at "casa hanzo" w/peetzo recording/mixing. fuck yeah! he's also into doing prac w/raul when he's strong enough... raul talks to me via my leash right after I get writing him an email when me and tom's spiel ends - we talk much about what me and tom talked about - this really good news, really good news for the missingmen also. mike brings me some tacos from nearby that are happening. I then go to the new boat to konk. mike routs me w/five minutes to go, no prob cuz he's got everything setup for me - the "spike and strike" using the yellow gaffer tape technique is working! I really dig working this room. I mean it's an old big theatre and you'd think maybe not happening but w/the right dynamics being used, I think it's really bitchin. I really enjoy tonight's gig, really do. I clammed some in one of the new tunes but they were more omissions clams and not space outs, like leaving out notes or hitting one a step away, nothing to throw the other guys off. hodge has a rack tom fail but fixes it once the tune's done. I miss a count in cuz of mike's head down but this is slight stuff that is tiny potatoes I think in the big scheme. I do get all my spiel parts correct. also, "the eureka moment" is back happening, the last two gigs where it was hurting is now gone. we get an encore and I think of my good friends dano and patrice who now live in patrice but for years I konked at their pad in houston and always had a good time. they were beautiful is always most kind, always. well, dano's having surgery right now cuz of cancer and it's very heavy on my mind. all three parts of our encore I think of him and send as hard as I can well-wishes his way, trying to summon what I can w/this bass in my hand, his face radiating big love as join w/mike and hodge to make this music work somwhow his way. so hard for me to figure why things happen the way the way they do, how me come into my life w/so good stuff to help me the whole enchilada seem better cuz were here together, 'pert-near like we were somehow brought together... john coltrane made good senese to this idea we're after some truth, some kind force for good, us helping each other other. fundamental. of course life is full of mixed up things though - like tonight, there was some weird whistles/distractions from a gig-goer who was prolly just lit and ethusiastic = at the same time it seemed all the rest of those here, maybe no other reason but to choose to be really kind to us - maybe my only kind of weird feeling happened when some holler my name by itself at the end cuz I AIN'T BY MYSELF so I feel on the mic I just gotta holler mike's and hodge's name in response - whoops, I called hodge "steve" instead of "stephen" like a fuckin idiot but corrected that clam right after. damn me for doing that. in navy housing I didn't even have a first name but that's no excuse... I apologize to hodge right after. a very kind security man hands me stuff from the gig-goers to sign, most kind of him, truly. he understands why I wanna use my own sharpie, much respect to him. brother matthew is here - he made the hellride up from phoenix - much respect to him also! his fluke issue twenty just came out w/a big spiel he did w/me. maybe we'll see him near the end of the tour in tucson? I sure hope so.    I pack up and anthony helps me schlep my stuff to the new boat and I get back into the alley for the load-out. waiting behind the wheel, my old friend deb pastor comes up to say hi, last time I saw her was in this town when me and larry was w/tav back in 2015. crimony. she dug the gig and wants to know about w/this mssv band is about so I let her know it's mike's proj and in fact he writes my bass parts - first time ever I've had someone write bass parts for me (not even d boon did that but then we grew up together learning how to play so coming up w/parts was pretty spontaneous just hearing what the other guy would come up w/)... she asks if I change those parts, like somehow to prevent any kind of "galley slave" type of role and I explain to her I like the parts he writes me - they're neat to play and they go good w/the parts he's written for himself to play and the stuff he's composed for hodge to do on the drums. hmm... I think maybe it's hard to know how some bands work from being on the outside. I tell her I think my journey w/music has a lot to do w/taking turns - there are things I believe you're never gonna learn if you're always the boss. maybe it's easier to recognize that when I'm helping people like the stooges or porno for pyros or j or tav or flipper cuz I've learned the "guy who's gone" parts but I've written parts for people to play in some of my stuff so what about vice-versa? I think the real test was her liking what she heard - her finding out about the particulars of how it's but together might be the part that surprised her but that's ok I think. what goes on w/mssv for me is not jive - I put all my heart into playing this stuff w/mike and hodge, all of it and cut NO shorts, I shit thee not, truly. if I didn't feel strong about trying to explain what I was trying to explain to her then I wouldn't chimping out here in the diary, I think it's important Il let everyone know how I feel about this. it's real good seeing deb again also.  the padboss charles again has us konk at his pad (he did last tour too), meeting us there pedaling on his bike. whoa, I'm a little beat. charles is most kind, he still had his scrubs on (he's a family doctor also) and we spiel a little bit 'til I just gotta konk. hey, it's before midnight - righteous! thank you big time charles, truly. saturday, september 23, 2023 - albuquerque, nm from mike: Really good night sleep Very cool walk this morning Laundry is complete Love the high desert Feeling elevation more This time, dont know why Sister is cool place Dolly and Heather bands kill Another good gig from watt: pop at six, make coff using moka pot - better those fuckin "syrup capsule bullshit" foists - thank you much charles. it's john coltrane's bday so I try to let people know - on tour is too hard to do my usual email blasts so via only corporate mersh vector sites this year unfortunately. just feel compelled to get the word out, like w/d boon and raymond, just do - mr coltane's a HUGE inspiration to me like him. in the last year or so I've been lucky to find and read ten bios w/him, got to share that w/guitarman peter distefano - righteous! I chow a bagel I figure out how to toast - slow learner watt! charles pops and we have a big spiel about all kinds of stuff - history, geography - even some fuckin philosophy! I point out to him one the things I've always have seem to pondered but never have got a handle on: "the mind and the brain - how are they connected?" crimony...  322 miles to make today so we pull anchor at ten. a little bit of rain but not much. learning how to work the wipers on the new boat... I get us on I-40 and head us east to get us out of this town and on to the next, a basic part of tour, correct? we go through the navajo nation, biggest res in the country... I wonder if I will ever get to play a gig at a res? I wonder how someone like me can make that happen? I gotta check that out...  not much before the new mexico border we lose an hour (didn't yesterday cuz arizona doesn't use daylight savings time), crossing at one and a half... an hour later I get us over the continental divide, elevation 7,275 feet up. crimony. 'burque's in a basin but it's still I mile up...  s  turns out we're in the old downtown part of 'burque...   whoa, somre really nice rides, MUCH respect. we got stuff like this in my pedro town, cats taking much care getting their rides happening... has always had me admiring w/my mouf hanging open... drop anchor at twenty after four - only parking is across the road (we're in the old downtown) from where the gigpad is for tonight: sister and it's got a heavy street thing happening w/people w/mental probs struggling big time - I'm gonna stay in the new boat like I did in las vegas - mike will check for me. fuck, it means I miss heather and their friends who we're sharing the stage w/but I just am worried. you wouldn't believe the scene out here. mike brings me carne asada tacos cooked to order w/pineapple in them, really good - mi gusta! I put out the yoga mat and konk. I don't know how much later - late enough though - mike yanks me on my leash. he's say no ten and a half go but later - I go to hobble over, barricades have closed off the street around the new boat, crimony! I say a prayer for the new boat and make my way over. trippy pad but you always work a gig hard I say cuz who knows when is your last one, correct? things seem chaotic but I gotta tell you that us working the dynamics like we did really brought the 'burque gig-goers and it was really happening - we do the best "boat song" of the tour, I believe. yeah, I space on what the fuck to do w/the new one "ok to change" - fucking really stupid of me, I need to pound this baby in but the overall gig I'm way into and couldn't be more grateful enough to everyone - mike and hodge included. bob-san is here (last week he flowed me his essay on the "human reaction" album), an old friend these days living in not too faraway placitas. him and adam (a cat I collaborated w/for a excerpt from "finnegans wake" (he called it the shem project) help me schlep my bass amp/speakerbox to the new boat (remember, it's docked a block and a half around the corner) and we have a good spiel then and when I'm at the wheel - oh, there was a young man from denver who made the hellride from denver to see the gig. crimony! many kind people here tonight, truly. I get us over to heather and jeremy's at twelve and a half, takes the little dog there (now in dog-alone mode) to quit w/the barking but soon is on top of the air mattress surveying his domain. me and jeremy have a great spiel regarding music, he's got big time insights I listen careful to, they also inspire spiels from me on the subject. thank you big time, brother jeremy. I konk hard. sunday, september 24, 2023 - amarillo, tx from mike: Thank you Jeremy And Heather and Mitote Relax bear morning My cold finally gone We head to amarillo With my yellow shirt Golden Light Jason Waits to greet us, good vibe here Dude-Man plays great set from watt: pop at six, jeremy was most happening to have the coff stuff prepared for my hobbled self, it's "french press" technique w/bof coff and water pre-loaded, just gotta engage the button on the electric kettle. I take my tudca (bile salts) w/the first swallow - good to this on an empty stomach, it ain't like the vitamins I try to take w/chow. more happening stuff from jeremy and prepared by heather: a righteous first chow w/lots of greens for salad alongside beans and scrambled eggs and turkey bacon. I use hashi to shovel in the room where I konked cuz actually I hardly chow w/my band guys on tour - we already are spending buttloads of time together, correct? I think of my pop on tour on those boats and the mess jammed w/other bodies, all shoveling... I think I picked up on him big time regarding that. we pull anchor at ten and damn if I don't hit the port-side mirror on the way out their gate HOWEVER, it's hinged and takes the blow w/out a hurt, yatta. my first hurt on the new boat did no damage, I feel most grateful. oh, besides the good spiel about music w/jeremy last night before konk, I had another one w/him this morning - dig it much but get this part that got included: him telling me as a twelve year old and just getting on drums, he was visiting an uncle who knew doug clifford (ccr drummerman) and seeing him at a chow pad, asked if he wanted to meet him... jeremy says yes and being young on drums, asks for advice and this is what mr clifford told him: "whatever you do, listen to the bass player - tune out the guitar, the singer, the keys... whatever - listen to the bass player only, get w/that." well fuck, that is something BIG TIME watt wanted to hear, damn if it don't really blow my mind. I got the chance to have him on my show (here it here) and what an honor. this what jeremy told me just re-affirms even more what I dig about the stickman w/the beat in his hand. crimony. bye bye to jeremy and heather, at least the new boat's mirror didn't hurt their pole at the cat. bye bye little bark-like-crazy wanko. we got about three hundred miles to make today... I get us soon north on I-25 to get us out of town and then west on I-40... clear skies and the wind not band (fucking yesterday it was blowin big time but I kept the keel in the water, this new boat handles real good). at santa rosa - my old pedro buddy (now in s.f. for the last ten or so years) richard fuckin bonney's people are from here - I get us first to some clusterfuck jammed up zoo shit that I want no part of then over to a "loves" that's under construction but not enough for mike to gas us up ($3.78/gallon) while I use the outside temp dumper - first I get a coff though and as I'm hobbling out the hatch I hear this voice "the man in the yellow coat is leaving out the door..." - what the fuck is that about? crimony. of course we I gotta check out curervo - don't even get out but check what's left and what's important, what's being built... I think stuff is planned for this place... might be lame too. fuck. two twenty and we're now in central time zone which means we lose another hour, right up ahead is texas - bye bye new mexico. twenty after four I get us into the old part of amarillo, north of the interstate - on the old route 66, kind of familiar for this part of the tour? I put the culo of the new boat close to the rear hatch of the golden light care (where we play tonight) as I can get... it's our second time playing here. brother tooley, a good of skitz o'fuel who connected me much w/amarillo (can't be here tonight cuz of work) drives up to say and we rap about the new boat - we'll be konking at his pad tonight, good cat and any friend of skitz's I believe is happening people. set up time for the band, I hobble out front and meet padboss wade opening up... he gets the rear hatch open and the rest of us get the load-in going w/me doing guardiano. there's live ranchera music going a few doors down, mainly singing, accordion and guitar and bass - love this kind of bass, really moving. down the street a little more is "the 806" where I might be able to check internet - I'll trade for a bagel, no prob... the bagel's got cheese melted on it and comes w/salsa - I think it was a kind of their "el tejano" but the man said they didn't have to correct kind of bagel for it but I said it didn't matter. he says he can't hear me but I ain't gonna yell, sorry. trippy tasting, I'm into it - maybe like a tiny pizza kind of? I check the internet stuff... whoa, a piece of an asteroid landed in utah w/one our spacecraft... born in 1957 (sputnik), I was a spacerace child so my ears/eyes peak up w/this kind of stuff. gigboss wade showed me video of big floods here back in the spring cuz of big rains. crimony. I get some soda water from bookerman jason after we soundcheck w/soundman cody (fellow bassbrother, much respect) and then I go out to the new boat to chimp more diary. I hear the openers, locals called dude-man and gotta go check them out... whoa, great band. they get done and I rap the singer/guitarman elton about all kinds of music stuff, real interesting cat. amongst that stuff, he hips me to him getting into working bass, fuck yeah. he mentions jack bruce as someone influencing him and I tell him something I know that bassman and a connect w/cream - in fact last time I was here in amarillo (about eighteen months ago), I got a cd of live cream a few doors down from here at high fidelity records - I pretty tell elton here now what I told the counter man there: harvey kubernik asked me to go w/him to drummerman bruce gary's pad in the val, he said I'd dig it. we get there and mr gary was very kind to me and talked to me kindly. he then went from the living room and brought back a vhs tape (this was in the 80s) and played it for me - it was some gig in europe w/him, jack bruce and mick taylor and kind of fusion or whatever - I don't sound all superior but it was, well... anyway, after a while, he goes back and brings another vhs tape and his bass case... he plays the tape and it's the last cram gig at albert hall (I know cuz of the red cowboy shirt eric clapton had on) and then he opens the bass case and there's an old gibson eb-3 w/a letter saying it was jack bruce's cream bass signed by him. I guess he sold it to mr gary for $1000 and a chapman stick if I remember him telling me correctly? anyway, the marks on bass were just like the one in the video - he even paused it to show me and even more - he let me play it - crimony! I mean no amp involved, just playing it but damn - can you believe?! for like a half hour I played that baby and it played like motherfucker, really REALLY fuckin happening, I couldn't believe. my mind was fuckin totally blown. I can never thank him or harvey enough for such a trip, I shit thee not. elton says we could talk forever but he's gotta get to some stuff - I tell him likewise but it how happening it is to meet him - I invite him and dude-man band to be on my show soon as I can make that happen and he's into it. ok, we part for now and I go to the new boat. mike brings me pastor tacos w/pickled onions and queso fresca, amarillo taste that I dig much. I lay out on the crew chairs and damn if I don't konk - it was supposed to be just a "resting my eyes" thing - my ma used to say that and the shed out cold - well, same thing happens w/me... I'm fucking out. had a weird nightmare - they stopped after the first week of tour but here' another one and what's wailing all through? "the man in the yellow coat is leaving out the door..." - aahh!!! I get somehow though I pop w/like five minutes before the the nine bell begin and get shoes/socks/shirt on in like in three minutes - mike's at the hatch right then, I think surprised w/the on-time pop (so am I) and I hobble in the do this, third sunday gig of tour. I'm prolly the most animated this gig - even planted in the seat, I can't help myself... I think seeing them dudeman cats at soundcheck bringing it got me lit. crimony. it ain't a perfect gig - I was much hodge's ojos much but in other ways I thought it was good and happening. maybe I was playing for the dudeman cats but I have to say there was much respect from the amarillo gig-goers and also padboss wade and bookerman jason. still getting the boom stand thing happening w/my mic... got the angle prob solved (getting the mic parallel w/the boom) but fuck, it's extended out too long so some fucking droop. damn me, one gig I'm gonna get this together in spite of my fuckin self! I think it's the most wild "super dumb" of the tour and maybe more how mike would like us to do it or at least on the road to that. brother tooley helps me the bass amp/speakerbox schlep (taking excellent direction w/the tetris pack) once I got that together and bassbrother soundman cody helps me get it off stage. I have a big talk w/gigboss wade about the "watt sauce" - he makes his own salsa himself, says I can get a bottle next time I'm to play, really dig his pad and can't wait to taste what he's cooked up. we get over to brother tooley and kat's soon as we do the final pack and baka-check... hey that "bone yard" pad w/the "wed-sun b-man karaoke" sign is still up for sale, mike wonders out loud about maybe a relocate plan? brother tooley's got a pad older than a hundred years and the part he's got converted into a studio (told me he's inspired by a pad I recorded at a couple years ago: dave catching's rancho de la luna out in josuha tree) but before I konk there, I spiel much to him and kat about meeting d boon, being a young punk rocker, being the son of sailor - all kinds of stuff. one thing in common w/us was this young man killed way too young: brian deneke - twentythree years ago I was part of benefit for him here in amarillo, got to meet his parents at it too - drove out from pedro just to do that cuz I thought it was real important I was there after being asked to be part. the weather here on their porch is just like it usually is in my pedro town which I know ain't usually the case here. I'm most grateful but even more grateful I got to meet brother tooley and kat, truly. I go konk thinking about all this good spiel we just had... monday, september 25, 2023 - dallas, tx from mike: Thanks Tooley and Kat! 2 bananas for breakfast Hot coffee from Braum's Many taco pads Now, in Deep Ellum, finally Lower altitudes Enjoyed openers Jeremy's arrangements work Really really good from watt: pop at seven. chimp diary 'til eight when brother tooley shows up w/some coff, most kind of him. we get in our final raps before we gotta pull anchor just before nine I wanna have him on my show - he says he's got one too, respect! hope we get to guest on each other's, huh? wanna make that happen. bye bye amarillo.  around 370 miles to do and damn if we leave I-40, yep - more direct to take us-287, been a little bit since I been on this road. it's an easy ride now, nothing like before and much safer. lots of this road is 75 mph also, feels like interstate. the skies got big white clouds but no rain. just after eleven I stop us at quanah to gas up the new boat at a "love's" for $3.41/gallon, get some hard boiled eggs (four for $2) and a wide-mouth bottle of apple juice for use as a piss bottle cuz damn if I didn't donate unintentionally the last one - damn me... I try some of these "ghost chili" almonds also - not so burn and wish they had no salt but this is what we got. only one swig of the apfelsaft ('apple juice' auf deutsch) and then empty it to make room for piss.  like I've said earlier: cutting down chowing sugar has really helped my joints w/not hurting so much - no longer need aspirin or ibuprofen on tour. hallelujah.   now there was a bogart in the head of that last stop and so I wasn't able to blow it out there but things ain't gonna hold forever, the mule is kicking at the barn door" like georgie would say so around one I stop us at bowie to soil some facility there - luck is w/me and they even have a handicap solo trip for cojo me. yes. a couple of pounds lighter, I get us through fort worth (one day I gotta play here, gotta!) and into dallas...  all the way east of town into the deep elum part and get us great parking right out front quarter after three, yes! drop anchor, whew. better early then sitting in fucking plug. mike gets us some pork tacos from right next door to three links - I've always dug playing here... maybe ten years now? whoa. a lot of humidity and in the high 80s - soundman chad checks us after we shovel our chow and load in, very smoov.  I chimp diary upstairs 'til american werewolf academy gets the show going, really dig their drummerman tony. the suitcase trio led by jeremy who's been letting me konk at his pad for years and years (very kind man!) plays for me for the first time and I love hearing him work his guitar, he covers two john coltrane tunes, much respect. kind of weird, this guy w/a camera who keeps getting close to me... I don't mean be afraid but my knee is hurt and if I fall... well, we don't watt to fall.  I kind of "fall" w/the gig though. not literally and at the nine pm go-time we start ok but I gotta say this a challenging gig, the communication was tough and maybe I just need more though I did try hard the way I could cuz I really thought the dallas gig-goers deserved it - damn if they didn't keep me smiling, smiling so much. you know a tour can bring you challenges in so many ways, really it can. "learning by doing" was on that sign as we were leaving atascadero back in cali, correct? good stuff to remember in times like these. I really wanna do good for mike also, yeah also for hodge. we were positioned good. I do all my schlepping after "the eureka moment" - using physics to get the speakerbox of the stage while still staying safe. I know I can do it and be safe if I really think it through and be careful. much good word from the gig-goers, I'm most grateful while at the same time it's weighing on me to suggest stuff in the debriefing... we pull anchor and head for irving where jeremy lives... somehow we beat jeremy to his pad - this is w/idiot watt missing some turns and stuff due to big time big debriefing in the new boat but I think it was way worth it cuz a lot of stuff mike got me and hodge together w/and he did by hearing out our thoughts and suggests before organizing it something that I think can really help us. thank you mike, thank you hodge. not just ojos but were gonna try to use mouf also - not w/words but w/shapes, giving cues to help us synch and cinch it up. I'm into it. also we plan to try make a less awkward end game... sometimes it takes eighteen gigs to get this point, correct? jeremy's pad is real comfortable for me, dig it much. I spiel w/his wife melissa and son liam some, real good people... I remember when liam was a baby, crimony! time's a freight train, huh? it WILL NOT wait. boy am I tuckered though... I chow some broccoli, pita chips too - trippy. I usually never chow after gigs but a couple of these chips w/hummus is happening. ok, get into the nightwear and konk after some spiel about colleting auslander ('foreinger' auf deutsch) words w/jeremy's bass player. whew, am I tuckered - I don't even think I said oyasumi but I know for sure this time - for the first time ever in this pad - I konked dry. crimony. tuesday, september 26, 2023 - oklahoma city, ok from mike: Boat cat outside Jer 's Almost catnapped by me, but Would make tour harder Still good driving skies I walk to only taco pad Kind of too fancy Good to see Matt here Getting better at spiking I eat granola from watt: pop at eight, crimony... but I was way tired. melissa cooks up scrambled eggs, some kind "bacon," tortillas, celery and blueberries - very VERY good. I chow that and then talk buttloads about music w/the young son liam and then pop jeremy (bof guitarmen) about les paul and "the log" plus the time I got to meet him in person before a gig in torrance (not far from my pedro town) during soundcheck w/my les paul signature bass - of course for a signature on it but got unexpected way happening gift of him spieling w/me what seem 'pert-near forever about all kinds of stuff in his life... from being in bing crosby's trio, to inventing sound-on-sound recording, designing the capitol records studios - all kinds of stuff, crimony! beautiful man, truly. I also get to spiel to liam about my ideas regarding music and it's parts: not just harmony (which seems to be the over-emphasized bogart but the other two equally important parts, rhythm and melody. man, it sure is inspiring to see a young cat really into music, fires me up much - thank you much, big man liam!  we pull anchor at noon, not as hot/humid as yesterday and the skies more blue... w/240 miles to do today, I get us on I-35 north towards oklahoma...  we cross the state line and leave texas eighty minutes later... bye bye, see you again near the end of the tour for three more gigs. twenty minutes later I pull us over at a "valero" where mike fuels the new boat at $3.40/gallon.  back on I-35, I tell him about meeting a cat last night originally from norway if I knew of the band back door and replied w/me explaining how the beastie boys turned me on to them when they had fIREHOSE open for part of their "check your head" tour in 1992. he finds their first album "stay on" via his leash and plays it for us, digging it much - hodge too. the bassman colin kicks up much dust (respect to him BIG TIME) but the music dialogue they get going between the three of them (drums/alto sax/bass) is righteous. thanks to that gig-goer last night for bringing the up, truly. he first actually asked me if I knew what husker du? meant and of course I told him about the game - he knew nothing about this, instead he thought I knew norwegian! crimony. of course me and d boon put out the first album by our buds in the minneapolis band. very nice man, his buddy too who had me sign much stuff. I got no trouble signing stuff as long as I can use my own sharpie.  I get us at the gigpad at quarter of four, I've played here buttloads of times, it's had other names but like last year, it's still called 89th street and it's in the north part of oklahoma city. I just finished a book connected to this town, a bio on charlie christain by wayne goins and craig mckinney that I dug much and learned lots I didn't know before. learning stuff via the music "vector" I'm finding most bitchin and it really connects w/me, lots of "collateral stuff" informs me on all kinds of levels and perspectives. crimony. I think good and hard about the deep deuce - I decide tonight to play my best for there AND for brother wayne coyne. I chimp diary while mike scours these parts for chow, said some mexican chow pad showed up on his leash.  sam of the economen who did minutemen drives up w/his motorhome... tells me he missed all out gigs by one day except for the two texas ones BUT he's gonna see tonight's! I met years ago, trying hard to remember - yeah, anyway... what a very kind cat - he's a drummerman and has me sign his kickdrum head. very sincere this musicman, very happy to oblige. mike brings al pastor tacos, purple (or maybe azul?) tortillas, whoa! I chow them w/topo-chico made real cold from the little ice chest jeremy back in irving donated to us this morning, much respect to him for that. digging this chow, yeah. thank you much mike, you come through every day w/healthy comidas for watt, truly.  gigboss julia shows up to get the pad ready for us, she found a little gecko and brings it out to show us before releasing... really tiny, whoa! beautiful. we do the load-in, soundman jacob soundchecks us. real quick, we implement stuff we talked about in the debriefing on the way to jeremy's pad last night. at the check I tried the mouf communication trip w/hodge and him back, fucking right on. good quick check w/the band on board. maybe hearing that back door album helped, huh? like the last poets said: "it's a trip." whoa, ninety degrees outside and it's six pm... crimony. I go to the new boat to konk... the new boat making like a shvitz, huh? crimony!  cuz of that konk, I miss openers the killings and alumnus - I've shared the stage w/the killings and really happening to be doing that again, don't know about the other guys but I they're local - shit, I wish I had the energy but... don't wanna make excuses, wanna do what I can and tonight I'm an mssv man - I am thinking about charlie christian much though, having just read that book... I pop somehow right before mike rousts me. crimony! love the nine pm start time and I charge hard (I mean for be in a chair), want to rally big time after the challenges of last time. I enjoy bringing it to the oklahoma city gig-goers and also joining w/the two mssv bandmen... much better communication but still some growing pains. I also fuck up in the first chorus of "french road drifters," missing an interval like an idiot - we should've recovered better - will address that in the debriefing! I think mike was real strong w/our endgame, it was a good solution arrived at last night in the new boat that worked out good in reality. we bring an encore, have missed that the last two gigs but on the other hand, milking one is really fucking lame. old buddy matt goes has aboard to his pad to konk once again, how many times for me? buttloads! thank you BIG TIME matt, truly. we catch up w/stuff and - oh, during the debriefing I had a little go-off and a little one here before I konk but after sleeping on it (actually cuz of the air conditioner on and off all night freezing my ass in spurts) I reconciled a lot I think that was troubling me and will for sure talk w/hodge about tomorrow. mike will get it in the new boat on the way to kansas city... I got plans! I'm so grateful for bof cats bearing w/me and some clams I blow w/behavior... have to get that more together, truly. wednesday, september 27 - kansas city, mo from mike: I wake up too late For bacon, the plate is clean Cupboard door falls We pull right up - yes! Steve greets us, then Dan, then George! Thanks for all the help Band rallies tonight Thankfully eyes are up here Really good gig, this. from hodge:  from watt: pop right after seven bells. fuck if it wasn't a hard konk w/every fuckin time that fuckin air conditioner came on, the resulting freeze-job would wake my lame tired ass up but I did get a good thought going where hodge and/or mike could get on-the-ground suggests for gigpads where they go and dig. sliver-lining rock, correct? hose off w/the head (matt's got two) that's got pressure in its shower while matt cooks up real good tacos (his kind) w/salmon and vegetable stuff that's good healthy eats, most grateful to him. mike joins us in the gallye and pulls one off of matt's cabinet hatches... plumbers arrive and matt finds out his foundation has to be jacked up. crimony, the pad's taking blows! did we bring? not really answers matt, stuff's already been happening... same w/his health - diverticulosis and a benign pancreatic cyst - even worse is the fucking buttrape w/the bones it costs cuz of our "system" w/healthcare - like I gotta tell anyone living about that, correct? matt's be so kind to me for so many years so this really makes me feel for him. he did just get done building a studio to record in, yatta! it is a righteous pad too artistically, just gotta fix some "infrastructure" under the hood stuff. I really dig his pad, dig him likewise. we have buttloads of spiel while he cooks but we got 360 miles to cover so we pull anchor at eleven. it's hot but clear skies and the new boat's air conditioning keeps things calm, I scissor it only for going up grades. I get us north on I-35 and by noon I pull us over near perry (you know I'm thinking of, correct?) to gas up the new boat at a "phillips 66" ($3.30/gallon) and I get two hard boiled eggs and some green olives after I piss. trippy combo but I dig. at one we're over the border into kansas - bye bye oklahoma...  soon the I-35 also becomes the kansas turnpike and I take that past wichita - charley plymell country! speaking of charley, he just wrote me an email about francisco coronado finding the kaw people of this area, said he was the first white man to meet them and I asked him if maybe he was mixed since it was not long after the reconquista... his reply: "prob. Sephardim more dark than white. I think he had a moor with him. There were 3 & 1 Black seen at Rio Grande onetime. He killed the Indian with him for not finding gold. He said he was a Turk. He was from a tribe in Kansas that had those features. Billy & I went to his place he camped in Great Bend, KS. on a plateau. They found a spur near our land in No Man's Land. It's at Smithsonian. c"  ...I get us northeast up to empora where we do piss/dump stop at about three at a "service area" (lots of toll roads have these cuz of no surface street leave/re-enter stuff) and then it's I-335 to I-70 east through kansas city, ks (yes, there are two kansas cities w/the bigger one actually in missouri!), across the missouri river and in kansas city, mo. get into the westport part of kansas city about pull up to the minibar (where we're playing tonight) eleven minutes before our scheduled load-in time, yatta! dan jones welcomes me at the new boat's hatch...  we first me w/me and my secondmen konked w/him while he was in eugene, oregon like twenty years ago! him and his band share the stage w/us tonight and in fact his bassman steve owns the gigpad! crimony. he enlightens me to the fact "foolkillers" is four blocks away - that was a community center kind of thing where the minutemen had their first kansas city gig and three blocks away is where charlie parker... crimony indeed! squids drummerman matt helps w/the schlep which sure is appreciated cuz part of it is up a flight of stairs. really am digging this music room though - I got a good feeling about tonight. I go to the downstair's area to chimp diary and george from lawrence has gotten me japanese chow from nearby that miss hiyori brings me and it's great: karage (friend chicken), shumai age (tofu) and ramen w/chahan - oh man, real good. queen w/david bowie doing "under pressure" comes on and I tell the man working there that that's a happening tune and he says. what a fucking econo bass line - love it! I go to the new boat and konk, the drive beat me up a little... I wanna play good for kansas city!  I konk really hard, crimony is this yoga pad an aider and abetter w/that - even w/it sweaty (I got my shirt, socks and shoes off)... I pop to the sound of dan jones and the squids but damn if it's their last tune and not the first... damn me for konking so hard but maybe I needed it. so sorry dan, steve and matt, so sorry. three minutes before the 9"15 go-time, I hobble up the stairs slow and careful, we bring our mssv stuff for the gig-goers here in kansas city and they're most kind - even those yammering cuz you can tell they know they yammering when they should be listening cuz we dump the sound floor using dynamics quick and tight on them, shifting gears as much as some bands do w/intervals - I dig this technique... used it big time w/my own third opera - so glad mike's into it w/his stuff. I do it much tonight w/"chartacourse," 'pert-near re-inventing my part w/out changing one note's pitch, also not adding or scissoring any. interesting asset in one's vocab, we also have much improved communication between all three of us, using my mouf for cues which I think is our best "boat song" song of the tour now even if it was prolly the slowest it's ever been. one of the new tunes at a big titanic moment in the first chorus but you know what? it didn't ruin the tune cuz unlike the titanic, we "righted the new boat" and got it shipshape working together, creating a very unique version for the kansas city gig-goers tonight! this is what I call success. ok, the very last part of the last tune we did tonight could be better but I think w/the stuff we've agreed to apply to our delivering gigs on this tour - we can do it... ureeka! while trying to put stuff myself away, people come up on stage and make that part slower... if they would only give me a break and get stuff stowed - I swear it's a short time. I guess some are just "impulsive" and can't help themselves. I appreciated everyone's kind, truly I do but please, c'mon and give me a break, I swear I'll hurry - I don't even get out of my chair - do it all from there - I can do it! I get off the stage and use the speakerbox for a walker - people, please let me! crimony. I see john but am so flustered by the fluster (?!) I fuckin keep calling him "dave" - what the fuck? him and his brother andy (he's in portland, or these days) have been to my gigs for 'pert-near forty years - we bof got tears in our eyes and I hug him much... love this man, truly, love his brother. I am most grateful for ther kindness, truly. I slowly get down the stairs, very careful and slowly cuz fuck would a tumble hurt me... the bicycle spoke bracelet on my port wrist is from a very kind man that made and gave it to me years ago in lawrence - I think I was at the bottleneck - and I've never taken it off since hardly, love it. he's here w/his wife and they wanna come to pedro - I give him my email address and tell bof of them I will give the a tour of my pedro town... good cats. jayhawk (not cuz of the band but cuz of the school!) bassman kevin's son kaden takes great direction and gets my bass speakerbox loaded in the new boat real good, much respect to him. he's a guitarman, all I can relate to him is us bass players look good making cats like him look which I think is real happening philosophy in itself. I remember when kaden was just a baby! crimony.  the new boat getting loaded, I spiel much and thank as many as I can the best I can. I try and explain some things while I make sure I use only my sharpie to sign things - I'm doing that now just as much I refuse to shake hands and it's nothing personal but it's what I feel is important. a bassbrother I konked w/during the last jom & terry show says hi - good man, I wish him well and hope he works his bass w/all his heart to help his band - I wanna share w/him in that endeavor. we pull anchor and I get us back over the river and into lawrence to george's pad, must be one in the morning. crimony. I'm beat - that took like an hour... got in the wrong lane and forgot to get a kansas turnpike ticket like a dumbfuck. we have a good debriefing though along the way, lots of good gig after-talk, I think this kind of thing is very productive especially w/out delaying it which lots of times means diluting it. george's pad is perfect temp, I bet I konk good. before I do I look mike's in-the-moment art he created while we were bringing the set tonight. thursday, september 28, 2023 - omaha, ne from mike: Finally got to talk With George, last year too early! Beautiful people Benson, Omaha I take too many pictures For Chris, does he like? Mas Chingon tonight Is taco provider here Club folks all so nice Another good gig I like band communique On stage - always helps! from hodge:  from watt: pop at seven and a half. hose off but have fucking nightwear on the deck of the head some and that part gets wet... I'll pay for that later. fucking slow learner watt... george makes up great asagohan ('breakfast' in japanese), I have raw broccoli, cauliflower and cooked bacon w/fresh blueberries. michael shows me art he did on his smartleash while we playing last night, really interesting - I dig. I chimp diary and let people know about tonight's gig - whoa, where a third of the way done w/this tour already. crimony. we got half the miles we did yesterday to do today to get to tonight's gig... pull anchor at noon. real nice weather. sure it's hot but not in the new boat. there's no clouds in the sky or big wind as we keep on keepin on... you know, some people ask me about that phrase ("keep on keepin on...") and where I got it - one cat mentions it on the internet here but let me tell you myself: it part of from something john fogerty wrote a napkin to me that was given to young man (at the time) that was working on his "old man down the road" video when he was told I lost d boon. I had sst records put on the one of the labels of the fIREHOSE "If'n" album:  great fucking advice... thank you so much, mr fogerty, truly. remember the only rock band d boon knew about when I met him (we were bof twelve) was creedence so there's that added dimension also. crimony. experience w/hearing live jack bruce band from 1975 yesterday makes sure NO music is in the new boat for today's ride. crimony. this was especially difficult for me since jack bruce had so much influence on me as a bassman. crimony. I take us east back across the missouri river via the kansas turnpike and then north (before the state line, at levenworth road w/e gas up at "casey's" for $3.36/gallon - hodge says the squeegees are so lame they'd do more than good so fuck that) via kansas city, mo on to I-29... quarter of three I get us out of missouri and into iowa (bye bye missouri), soon pass hamburg - miss hiyori lives near the original one in germany (she's lived in that land longer than her native japan) - she gives me a pear that was in a sack lawrence bassman kevin put in a sack for me yesterday and sure enough, less than a hour after chowing it, a blowout is imminent - I pull the new boat over and hobble to the head at a "kwik-zone" - you bet it was a kwik-zone, more like one-stroke short-burst butt-blast zone but surprisingly more solid than liquid. self-soil averted, I get back to the new boat a little shaken, a little lighter but big time relieved. there's a lesson in this: gotta watch what I chow more. luckily no fever or food poisoning feeling - more of a "short stay" experience I'm thinking and most grateful for. I get us to council bluffs and at I-80 we go west and into nebraska, bye bye iowa - 'til tomorrow.   I've played this pad before and I dig it, the reverb lounge in the benson part of part of north omaha. there's cones for parking right out front, yatta! I drop anchor fifteen minutes before our load-in time of four, rap w/the padboss jim, good cat... he reminds me of konk upstairs not too far away - across the street is a ride (maybe an early 'carlo? something chevy...) w/the biggest fuckin wheels I've ever seen ever - crimony!  sharing the stage for us tonight is bad bad men that's got john wolf (his old band was cellophane ceiling who started doing my omaha gigs in 1988. crimony, he's got the shirt on to prove and of course I remember him big time - always dug doing gigs for john, always! his son grifin he says is gonna play keys on a couple tunes when their set come, respct! the "next shift" arrives, huh? crimony! we check w/soundman tyler, good time and real easy. mike brings me some tacos from "mas chingon" nearby, am into it! before going to the new boat, I find out it's john gilmore's bday... this is from the john coltrane interview in his station wagon w/frank kofsky in november of 1966: frank kofsky: "Archie, it seems to me, is the one who has gone furthest in directing his own - in the direction of his own style. But if you listen to Archie three or four years ago with Cecil Taylor, he was playing those - up and down triad things that, you know that, that really one of your, trademarks. ...Then maybe, - you don't want, maybe - you'd rather not think about that, so?" I go and konk hard in the new boat 'til mike gets for our quarter after nine start... d boon's pop was from nebraska so I'm thinking of that but what john coltrane said about john gilmore too - it really made me think which is a relief cuz actually I had a 'mare during my konk where I thought I actually was in a car wreck and now was tripping on what the fuck do I do now that happened... you can't know how relieved I was when mike was a the hatch for the gig-roust. the omaha gig-goers tonight are prolly the most focused w/us bringing the dynamics, whoa... very kind, much respect to them. the band's got real good communication as well, I'm digging it much. thank you gig-goers here tonight to help us get that going, truly. we get done first up is a nice cat who said him and his wife had victoria as a roommate in omaha for a period, - crimony! samll word, huh?! get the good word and share some spiel - really get into it outside after managerman david helps me clear the way for me using my speakerbox as a walker, then takes most excellent direction getting it in the back of the new boat, much respect to him! anyway, "really getting into it" means w/john wolf and his family - love meeting them all, he has one of sons (nathan I think, the drummerman) take a picture of us:  w/the new boat packed, we head over to fred's pad, the development is called "piedmont" I realize finally after all the times I've stayed here. fred's most kind to me and whatever crew I'm w/, we watch some of this doc on the band chicago on a big tv - I never 'pert-near watch tv on tour but it's good to talk w/fred at the same time and to be honest, the story of this band is a major fucking nightmare to witness in a way, kind of wanna makes me wanna puke. nothing personal, just a huge pile w/an odor to it. crimony. fred's own room he donates for konk space, first time I've ever konked in his pad not borracho. crimony. friday, september 29, 2023 - davenport, ia from mike: Still pretty warm here My first time in Davenport Learning Quad Cities New taco pad here Cross corner from the river Nice rooms right upstairs Got to meet Sam here! I like him, his tunes, and vibe Very prolific Never stiffed before On a gig, tonights the night Way low pay vs crowd I call sean, voicemail I email sean, no reply I call sean again This guy runs two clubs Raccoon motel and fox den Whats this guy thinking? from hodge: ok i gotta say i am not of fan of making snap judgements, but in the case of the raccoon room my first impression sadly turned out to be true. all the people we were working with were very cool and the bar and the performance space were fine, but the stage and the sound a complete mess. mics and cables all in tangles and clumps on the floor. prior sound persons had not returned the gear to even close to ship shape. the sound man spent 15 minutes looking for the drum mics. couple hours later we did sound check. ok things are working, come to do the gig 3 hours later oh boy mics are not working, then it's working sort of then not again, the folks in attendance were right up close, we're all in this minor disaster together. we prevailed in breakdown sections we just broke down even quieter. and after bradley the sound person trouble shot the mic cables watt had his mic working for the last song of the set. we felt good about the whole thing cause we prevailed, to add salt the the wounds the club owner stiffed us on the money. don't think we'll be playing the raccoon room again. gotta say the gig goers the folks that paid to see us we all got thru this in flying colors, we prevailed the all the folks in attendance came along with us big time. much love and respect to you all!!!!! from watt: pop at seven and a half. spiel much w/fred, he's wrestling w/this spider bite on his starboard foot that was misdiagnosed - the pain he says is intense and then me, like a fuckin idiot, locked him out of his own head last night. crimony, what a pinche stunato. I'm so sorry fred. I make coff w/a machine he ain't used much cuz he don't partake but he's most kind to let me. he donates a sack of celery to our tour cause, he's a most kind man. thank you big time, fred, truly.  we shove off at ten and a half and make for the river, whence we came yesterday... less than twenty hours here - bye bye nebraska and helo iowa after twenty minutes. it's I-80 east 'pert-near the whole way for us today. most happening weather yet again for this tour - most lucky for us. clear skies, though a little wind... I'm gonna steer us across the entire state of iowa! we get to talking about ed fROMOHIO cuz of the pittsburgh (where's he's been living for a while now) gig coming up six october friday (in one week) and how whenever I see him when I'm on tour I invite him up on stage so we can do the blue oyster cult's "the red and the black" together... maybe mssv could do it w/him this time around? mike finds the different versions on the internet and plays them over the new boat's sound system, hodge listening also. maybe it will happen? just east of des moines at one pm I pull us off in altoona at "casey's" and mike's confused by these options at the pump for fueling up the new boat, "ethanol vs no-ethanol" w/there being a $.52/gallon difference (whoa) but my advice is that it's jive and you're wasting your money by avoiding ethanol for a new vehicle like this. we'll see how she runs w/this choice... oh fuck, speaking of waiting to check things out: I spaced on chimping here in the diary maybe about that doctor check mike had in between tour legs... turns out the doctor who examined says he DOESN'T have a hernia but instead it's something he's had behind his bellybutton since birth and not that serious. also the infection in his sinus seems to be gone but that same doc said it was viral and he had to ride it out anyway (antibiotics really only work w/bacteria attacks). whoa, besides "breakfast pizza" (fuck that), this pad's also got a drive-through carwash - first carwash ever for the new boat! remember I got this baby nine august so she's 'pert-near still what I've been calling her: new. we do that for seven dollars. kirei fune ('clean boat' in japanese), yatta!  back on the I-80, I have to be really careful not just for the construction but the fucking pendejos driving like, well, fucking pedejos... really REALLY bad and it's always been a problem w/the little cars, more and more big rigs are be "handled" this way, totally fucking stupid, big time. the risks these assholes are taking w/their behavior is incredible, really fucking stupid. I gotta change the subject before I puke... I talk w/mike about how energy can be seen as really transformative, meaning you get work out of by re-arranging lots of times the components it seems to us humans as its comprised off, like w/ohms law or w/magnetism and/or bof those things working together, w/steam (very important to this band - read "the sand pebbles"), w/all kinds of stuff... you change this to get this change in that. the movie version of "the sand pebbles" has the characters jake holman and pohan kind of doing the same thing - that's how they come up w/the eureeka moment. man, it seems so much in the world is as connected as it's also separated sometimes, huh? crimony. we do a piss-stop at a rest area east of des moines...  I get us to the venue (raccon motel) right just after four... right next to the mississippi river, off of highway-61. crimony. my first time in this town. ronnie and scotty (the stooges' asheton brothers) told me they lived hear for a little bit as boys before the family ended up in ann arbor in michigan. they say it's ok to park in the back... I am skeptical but I guess just two hours parking allowed out front - just scared for the new boat.  great weather, we do the load-in and I go to the front (this pad's got two rooms, front one is the bar and then there's a gig room) and maggie (seems she works here) tells me this 'tel you can see from the window called "the blackhawk hotel" is where carey grant died... she didn't know his name was archibald leach - guess watt's good for something besides bass: at times a little competent as a random infor portal.  I meet last-minute soundman bradley and buddy helperman james, bof very kind. soundcheck takes a little while but we get it done. instead of "human reaction" which we've done all tour for our check, we do a new one "hilarity and despair" which I'm real glad we did. I then meet the cats in the openers for tonight, a two piece local band named blaster who though young know all about the blasters, much respect! also on the bill is sam locke ward - we got a proj called slw cc watt which has got a new album (our third release) called "purple pie plow" and first I meet the three cats in his band... learn from the bassman john that where we played last night, benson back in nebraska, was where malcolm x was born. crimony. the stuff you learn from dudes in bands, huh? big respect.  just getting to meet sam in person (maybe he gave me a bunch of cds at an iowa city gig I did years ago), I learn this is sam locke ward and the malevolent gaze - bob bucko jr couldn't make, oh well - I dig his stuff much but can't wait to see this band. they go check while I chow tacos mike brings me from somewhere - love the fact you can get these real kind so far everywhere we've been, viva!  I watch blaster open - we're gonna konk upstairs at this place so I'm gonna be a full-on gig-watcher tonight. the deliver from the deck instead of the stage - bof bassy and the guitarman are southpaws - have I ever seen that before? I dig them plus drummie and the singerman, they kick like kato and I think I'm getting lit... sam's on w/his cats - sam sits down like me, has a music stand w/a lyrics book, jams the acoustic guitar. two of the tunes (including the opener) are from the album we just made together. the drummer lady monica sings real good w/sam and is also good w/her drums supporting the tunes, as is hi bill's keyboards.  ten bells and it's our turn. kind of tough gig, most of it missing my spiel but that comes through for "human reaction" and it's a good lesson for us to learn to improvise when stuff fucks up - mike ends up sing the parts he wrote for me cuz I was just miming it (not on purpose!) and I think we made do pretty w/the hand that was dealt tonight. I learned from watch sam's set that a direct out from bass amp to the p.a. might screw things up more and damn if this bergantino amp/speakerbox ain't enough by itself, crimony - it is, I shit thee not! the gig-goers here in davenport are most kind and support us through all the twists and turns - even from the get-go when I discovered an open mic (it was drummerlady monica's singing mic) and clammed some notes cuz of letting my focus get grabbed by that - right after the first tune I got that mic unhooked, the best cure for an open mic on stage... that's why we got this make-silent boxes, for when we're instrumental! we get brought back for an encore and I yell "STOOGES!" during the middle section which is an instrumental version of their "1969" cuz damn if the didn't have some echo of their lives in ringing through my spirit... man, I loved the asheton brothers, loved them dearly. I thought them all gig but especially now... we close out w/a piece of john coltrane's "equinox" - only a year ago last week we lost brother pharoah saunders... many kind thank yous and also some talk about bass - one guy wants to talk about a fender VI he's got and though I've never played one, fuck it - it's and damn if jace bruce play on when cream first started, correct? maybe one day I will... an inspiring man for me, conan neutron, is here to say hi and spiel some, great cat and it's fucking bitchin he's hear, much respect! we spiel as I pack up but we don't load the new boat cuz of konking upstairs tonight, we'll do it in the morning - sometimes that's the way they do it europe, crimony wouldn't that be WAY happening if that could be common over here? fuck yeah: one-stop gig/konk pads... brian's got it happening w/his saturn pad in birmingham, correct? let's bring that, gigbosses! after good spiel w/conan (he'll be on my show again in december, I go in the other room to spiel w/sam and his bandmates. bassman john tells me he wants me to understand our connect, says he mixed the "purple pie plow" album and I ask back if it was bof mixes? he says what? and I said that after sam sent me the first mix "for approval" that if he really wanted me on the record than maybe you should be able to hear the bass so he sent me another mix a little later and I said ok to that one. I thank bassman john very much for bof of those. I go on a little (little?!) spiel about the old days of the movement but I think it got to be like so much yammering in the wind so I cut rope (I did hear soundman bradley ask if jimi hendrix was punk - damn, I should've told him how much jimi inspired/inspires me, damn...) and hobble up to the konk pad above the gigpad (kind of europe style, huh?) to get some rest I really need. they told me they'd see me again tomorrow in saint paul cuz they're opening up the show. safe seas to sam locke ward and the malevolent gaze... I slowly climb the stairs to where we konk and do just that most quick as my slow arrive allows. crimony. saturday, september 30, 2023 - saint paul, mn from mike: Still no answer from Sean Moeller, now we all know Unbelievable Still is pretty warm I'm excited for the Thai Place i heard about Turf Club has really Got everything together Way great vs last night Thai food great, long wait OK because that means good! Great talking with Parr! Downstairs, I meet Liz And Alan from LOW, surprise Greg Norton visit How nice of him to Come find me to talk with me Before we play, wow! Great gig and great vibe Really good music all night BIG thank you Turf Club! from hodge:  it's interesting how people going out to hear music are willing to enjoy variety. i guess it depends on the type of bands bookers are putting together for that evening. so last night we had a really quiet and interesting political comedy theatre of the absurd band and second there was charlie plymer with his drone band 30 minutes of instrumental droning. the crowd was digging bof groups alot. that's encouraging to me. as far as my contribution to the evening and my mssv brothers no charts on the new songs fairly complex music, with watt's help the set went great! from watt: pop at seven. no coff here... crimony. I chow three eggs miss hiyori boiled last night and then chimp diary 'til quarter after nine when it's time to load-out our stuff and into the new boat... oh, mike found coff and gets it to me. one more email before we shove off, some art from karen schoemer:  we get out of davenport at twenty of ten and onto I-80 west (whence we came yesterday) but instead of going all the way to des moines (passing what's supposed to be the "world's largest truck stop - iowa 80"):  ...to make the "big starboard" towards the twin cities in minnesota, we take I-380 spur towards cedar rapids to shave off some miles/time. mike uses his smartleash to navigate some smaller stuff (us-218) but at raymond (actual iowa town, not my buddy pettibon) he has me quick get off so he can dump cuz I bet it's real bad. gas sitch is bad but the head at the town's filling station save everyone here in the new boat from... well, there is a cat-piss smell - mike thinks it might've been one of tooley's cats that sprayed something of hodge's stuff. crimony. two miles up the road is "flying mascis" instead of leaving dump, we take on gas at $3.80/gallon in evansdale. on to mason city via us-18, we connect w/the interstate, I-35 north and cross into minnesota at two - bye bye iowa... not all of iowa though cuz sam and his band again are gonna play w/us one more time tonight. the weather the whole time has be clear but hot, in the high 80s f which is really trippy for me in these parts at the end september. crimony. one more stop... I put forth the suggest that every two hours we pull it on over, just cuz. it's a "rest area" called "straight river" which is what I launch out me into one of the urinals (it's what the call a "modern rest stop" and has those, even buttons on the hatches I can use my crutch to actuate. crimony. ba6ck on the road, mike smartleash's apple maps get us into saint paul via I-35w even though it's east of its sister, minneapolis. trippy symmetry: I-35 splitting into e and w version the same way it does hundreds of miles south in texas for fort worth and dallas. crimony. some very rude drivers, very rude but this ain't just for here - the whole country's been this way since at least 2016, I shit thee not. right at scheduled load-in time of four bells, can you believe that? crimony. it's the turf club which I've done a bunch. soundman matt meets us a the hatch and we do the load-in BUT now I park in the alley by the main street the pads on - not only that's different but the cvs next door is now closed. what's still open is the thai chow pad down a few doors and mike gets me green curry w/rice soon as we check soundman matt (really cool people soundman matt, respect). we visit w/the sam lock ward and the malevolent guys when they arrive (they came from their native iowa city, ia) and then mike's buddy charlie parr w/his "portal III" proj in the boloney seat - sort of like the middleman in a three-way (also known as "lucky pierre") but kind of different. charlie is very nice to me... says his friend greg norton's gonna be here - yes! whoa. would like to see bof these sets from these very happening people but I feel I need to stand watch and also fuckin konk which is kind of a tortured one cuz of the heat. crimony. don't know how this keeps happening but I somehow pop w/like ten minutes to go (that means twenty after ten tonight) and get my yoga mat rolled up, makura ('pillow' in japanese) stowed and socks/shoes/shirt/hat back on and ready for mike. crimony. I hobble in after dogging the hatch and very happening now here at the turf club, stairs w/a handrail instead of me doing my version of a pole dance to get the fuck up to work. crimony, if old buddy (I'm talking like fortytwo years now!) brother greg norton ain't right at the front of the stage w/his hands on it - crimony!  I am so nervous, so nervous... I love this man! I wanna play my best but damn if I don't start blowing clams - too nervous, gotta calm my weak shit down and focus... at the same time though I'm cracking up and laughing at the whole sitch - thinking of greg, thinking of bob, thinking of grant... hodge is trying this new trip my asked him to do, trying to cut way WAY down on the hihat stuff for most the tunes AND AT THE SAME TIME, totally abandon the chart crutch. whoa... hodge does great though, crimony! I am so proud of him. it's a juggle but like he tells me later: "I put on the big boy pants" and fuck yeah he did. MUCH respect. I asked mike if I could read this poem charley wrote for grant before our encore: "HE PLAYED RIGHT HERE whoa, what a gig. many MANY feelings rush all over me. crimony. much good word from many gig-goers... the whole gig they supported us much, very righteous to get to play for them. outside I get to spiel much as I can w/brother greg... he reminds me brothers gotta take care of each other - yep, absolute!  sam locke ward chimes in after a bit w/him recounting his first encounter w/me, it was in his iowa city town and he said he was a the the time a young bass player and told me that w/me saying to him "DYNAMICS, that's what you do!" or something like that cuz it was prolly during my first opera and that's when I really starting implementing that technique to my stuff. can't wait to work on more slw cc watt he's gonna bring me for round IV - his bassman john is gonna mix it again. right on. one more hug for brother greg and then it's time to shove off for a neighborhood part of saint paul at some air b place where the cat lives upstairs and knows music - but asking me to put the new boat in a hard maneuver is a little much to ask at this point cuz I've only had her since nine august! crimony. he relents and lets me put her where it's easy. thank you so much. w/in minutes I'm out cuz damn if today - like most days on tour - tucker the shit out of me. whoa. heavy gig emotionally for me tonight but MAJOR victory for hodge which means MAJOR victory for mssv, yatta! sunday, october 1, 2023 - madison, wi from mike: Nice sleep in st paul Espresso machine going Good time to catch up My second time in Madison this year, isthmus Inside two whole lakes! More nice folks here at High noon saloon, way happy To have good pads now Woah! FRO is here too! I forgot he's Madison Great guitar player livenation gas cards cool surprise, end of the night Best part? Good playing. from hodge: high noon saloon from watt: pop at seven. go piss, wash hands and then I chow two hardboiled eggs from yesterday that are here in the fridge (brought in from last night), hot sauce, 'dines and crackers bassbrother kevin from lawrence, ks gave me - first 'dines of the tour! wish they were cold but fuck it - fortified them w/that "zim's" sauce someone gave miss hiyori... not much flavor or heat, oh well... at least some acid to balance the 'dines alkaline.  move the new boat at twenty of nine, meet that air b man chris who lives upstairs - he asks my name and I say watt and he answers "mike - what do you go by?" and I tell him he's free to pick. kind man, respect. I hobble back to the pad and chimp diary 'til pull anchor time at eleven. bye bye to grant town... hey they got a caesar chavez street here - we got one in l.a. that's a part of sunset bl by chinatown, respect. I get us out of town on I-94 and start swimming w/the cabrons in their coches - not many trucks today but lots of "sunday drivers" though it ain't just cuz it's sunday cuz idiot like this do this shit every fucking day of the week, I shit thee not... and it's not just here, it's all over the fucking place, fucking pathetic. like they're playing gameboy or some shit where the only consequence is "game over" but REAL LIFE AIN'T LIKE THAT, assholes. get it fucking together please. cross the mississippi river at eleven and we're into wisconsin... not much before menomonie, me and mike see a bald eagle, just brief but damn if it wasn't right above us for a moment - mike said he saw something in its mouf! maybe the the third time for me in all the tours I've done to see that kind of bird. trippy too hearing mike talk about stuff he's seen before on tour he's always wondered about (a barn here in wisconsin off of I-94 w/the words "top shelf genetics" on it)  cuz that means he's getting a few under his belt, huh? starting to notice stuff and wondering about, huh? how many cats put the heads in the sand w/the short time we got w/our stuff... I remember once that drummerman big man (it was on the only missingmen tour I did W/OUT raul morales) telling me "we got a few hours to kill" and I just looked at him... at osseo at a quarter of one, I pull us over at a "speedway" and mike gets the new boat gassed for $3.70/gallon...I go to the foul the facilities and when done drop my crutch accidentally, a man older than me comes in and I tell him I'm sorry I dropped my... he finishes my sentence w/a very polite "your walking stick" and I thank him much for kindness. crimony. back rolling and about an hour and a half later I gotta use little roads (starting w/wi-82 and the smaller) to get around a major plug at mauston,  this "advice" a feature of mike's applemaps via his smartleash coming through the new boat's display does the suggest, ok, seems to work - this time! however, once back on the interstate we're in a sea of real pendejos driving real shitty and risky... a big metal cylinder 'pert-near wails on us and then a bunch of pieces of tires - these are road hazards appearing out of nowhere but riding the bumper of the bozo in front ain't goona give you enough time... look, I don't drive under the speed limit cuz that's up there w/being dangerous in some ways as going way fast but it's ridiculous the risks some of these shitheads are taking w/people around them and their own lives - you notice I put "people around them first" maybe? what about the freedom from having your life put at peril by assholes driving like... assholes? that's to me what makes them assholes in this sitch, pinche cabrons who being fucking selfish - it's a fucking bogart. this bozo w/a uhaul truck and trailer comes alongs and into our lane, 'pert-near slamming into the new boat so I give the horn... he acted like I wasn't even there. it's ridiculous. man, is it trying. of course you don't wanna let stress hurt you so somehow I gotta be calm about this stuff and handle drama by drama. it's diary chimping time now and so that's why I'm putting these kind of stuff here, helps w/someone dealing w/the in-the-moment things I can't let freak me out while we're dealing w/it - I just gotta do my best to keep us safe, just have. I ain't making any of this up, I swear to you. I've been doing this forty years-plus and I tell you, it's really being more stupid than ever. we need to work together to make driving safer - it's not about anyone trying to be better than anyone else in my mind, it's just about a little teamwork out there on the roads. we try and do it in our bands, correct? ok then. even w/all this wack, I get usto the high noon saloon (where we're playing here in madison tonight) sixtyeight minutes early - pays to have a cushion of time w/that stuff just like a cushion on the road (fore AND aft) helps w/the swerve-to-avoid stuff. crimony. this pad's not far from the state capitol building.  hello righteous managerman matthew, so good to see him again cuz it's been a good while (since 2014?), fucking tardy watt. managerman matthew and the cats working w/him here are the kind of people you wanna work just as hard as the do to make stuff happen. soundman dave does the soundcheck w/us but it's got an interruption... cuz... I got talk w/tom watson again, yatta! really happening. had to call his landline w/my leash but just to hear his voice was good stuff. mike says it's ok so me and tom spiel about what's happened in the nine days since we last talked (back in flagstaff) - he didn't know about the new boat! crimony, I tell him that's what the next missingmen tour's gonna be in so I gotta let him see soon as I get back... gotta bring him his new bareface revolution 2x12 speakerbox also, can't wait. I get to everyone (who's most patient, for that I'm most grateful) to get this soundcheck down and one more blow before taking down this chow mike got me, tastes clean - hope it'll clear me of that foulness churning me up inside. before hitting the new boat I get to meet the openers clean room and share some j and stooges stuff - their guitarman has blue sparkle j model tele he said fender just put out and I'll him about the original one j made up w/the stuff used for drum shells on a natural finish tele he had, told me he used it for all the solos for the "ama ring" album... had black electrical tape all on the sides to attach that stuff - this fender one did not have that! I hip him and his band to my opinion that j got the stooges reunited in 2003 by taking ronnie on tour w/us (j masics + the fog) a couple years before that. yep, he's shy and don't buff badge about it but in my opinion it was him. I run out of gas though and gotta get to the new boat, I konk hard... and sweaty. mike rousts me for the ten of nine start for us, surprised I'm up but damn, once again a few minutes right before something rousted me from konkland... maybe the new boat kind of being a shvit... when's fall coming?! I hobble in and we bring the set. it's a good one even w/me playing the right notes but not in the right order to the first chorus in the current mssv album's title tune - is that specific enough? sometimes I do that to put my fuckin slow-learner self on notice to get my shit more together - it's on purpose to be that specific w/myself cuz bof mike and hodge deserve it... as do the gig-goers - the ones here tonight in madison are most beautiful w/their kindness, giving us full focus. yeah, people think you need to find a reason to do stuff w/all you got - I'm so glad I don't suffer from that lame shit. I dedicate the encore to tom layton, a promoterman who used to do ALL my madison gigs. I get my stuff packed and this most kind helperman from the pad here helps w/getting the speakerbox down the stairs and into the new boat. I'm most grateful. look who's here at the window when I get behind the wheel - it's bucky pope! I tell my idea about him producing what we just recorded at _casa hanzo_ back in august in my pedro town for round II of our tone scientists proj, I ask him if he'll produce and let peetzo mix cuz I did bof those jobs for round I and wanna change things up. he says ok. I tell him I had mike find "honey bubble" on the net and play it on the ride up... he said mike talked to him which is great, I'm so glad they got to rap w/each other. here at the window (I got my seatbelt on but that don't mean I wanna bolt!) I also get to spiel w/mike's buddy from new york city who lives here now, guitarman fro and after kicking my lame-ass memory into gear to retrieve my memory of great bassman william parker, I invite him to be on my show when I get back (mr parker was on - righteous!). some cats you just love rapping w/, it's such a fucking happening thing, truly. bof mike and hodge dig the gig which means much to me also... an added dimension was added to the "boat song" maybe? I know I clammed coming into for my part but mike and hodge read the tea leaves and kept our keel in the water. much respect for that. I wheel the new boat to an air b mike's fixed us up w/and man am I beat - damn I soiled this outfit cuz of that poisoning thing but I think the "todofresca" or whatever it was is gonna help me big time, I feel it working in fact. kind of a tortured way to get here w/all the construction and that wore on me also but what's important is we're here safe, really is. I hose off and get into my nightwear. I really need to konk and do, most grateful for being able to. monday, october 2, 2023 - chicago, il from mike: Easy traffic in Only one mile of plug here? Parking right nearby Jalapeño sauce Available here, i get A few for later Load in stairs no joke I count 65 all in Eli / Sam sound great More eyes needed though I dont just want a good gig I want the teamwork Sam and Gillian Real nice folks and nice talkin I sleep very well from hodge:   chicago whole lotta stairs to deal with on this load-in, very cool old old building this venue. venue is closed we are so early, once again starbucks to the rescue with the clean restroom, i feel compelled to buy some coffee in exchange. lot of interesting mural art and interesting angles adjacent to the club. from watt: pop at seven and piss. damn, had another 'mare last night... wonder why? we ain't in the first week of the tour! crimony. I put on the other pair of levis I brought and fresh chonies - they got no washing machine here (that's why I bring them). fry three eggs cuz I can't find a pot and fuck am I gonna use this frying pan to boil them cuz you can't immerse the eggs totally and I got poisoned yesterday I'm pretty sure by boiled eggs that were in the new boat too long - those weren't the three I ate in the morning but two later during the drive - gotta be fucking careful... my history w/getting poisoned goes way back and actually I developed a kind of "iron gullet" from surviving all those hells. you wanna know what's bitchin? fuckin "topo chico" mineral water - and for a lot of reasons... well, one ain't cuz some big corp recently bought them (and they were themselves for like a hundred years too, fuck! from monterey in mexico) but here's a bottle from last night in the new boat I spaced in left w/no cap, half finished but still kickin like kato w/the bubbles - over night! crimony. REAL carbonation (maybe some lithium too? that's what jeff smith learned me in san antonio)... we pull anchor at eleven. I get us on the I-39 south and then I-90 east, at around noon, we cross the border into illinois - bye bye wisconsin... fuck! I forgot to chow some curds, damn me. good news is even that chow mike got me last night was squarejohn w/no mexican taste, it was CLEAN chow and pushed out all that hell that was making me blow it our earlier. new policy for watt: no hardboiled eggs that have been in the new boat more than a morning. we learn by doing (thank you again, most wise sign back in atascadero). some fuckheads thinking freedom means to get to drive like assholes (read about five people killed by ammonia getting spilled from a flipped-over big rig in this state yesterday, very tragic) but not too many - actually light traff for chicago w/maybe only a mile of plug cuz of construction... I get us into the bucktown neighborhood in the wicker park part of chicago at one and a half - can you fuckin believe that? none of us in the new boat can... one and a fuckin half we're here at the venue (one I ain't played before, called subterranean - damn, not far from the old double door where I did many gigs years ago - still a got an inflatable "jim beam" bottle the good people there gave me hanging from my prac pad overhead to help w/acoustics, I shit thee not)... well, near... in a loading zone about a block away but you know what? this new boat's got commercial plates, commercial registration so I hang here while mike goes to get real coff. the weather is very calm, very close to pedro w/no humidity, blue skies - ok, maybe a little warmer but not much. we're right by the loop so a train lady is tooting her air horn when a train arrives. whoops, a meterlady says we gotta be actively load BUT right across the street a space opens up w/a hydrant be so no box-in, yatta! you know, you would think if you wanna have bands play for you then maybe you'd get a parking sitch going for them? crimony. anyway, we luck out here - a definite benefit of arriving early, yes. whoa... a workerman is leaving - I bring the new boat around - yes, now where on the side of the street we need. man am I happy... BUT THEN, the most forward spot you can get near the gigpad opens up, CRIMONY! quick I get the new boat over to that, oki yatta!! can you believe it? whoa. other great thing is parking is by the license plate so it's not like four different meters had to be fed, one for each move (all of it in a little less than an hour!) - it's all covered. 'pert-near under the train tracks we got shade which helps cuz taiyo ('sun' in japanese) is really strong and I got that fucked up port-side mimi ('ear' in japanese), a result of my head catching fire back in 1987 (day before a fucking tour!)... I chimp diary really happy now, feeling like we got really good luck. crimony. hodge comes back from his wander, I enlighten him to the sitch, he's into it. also says he learning the b.o.c. tune for edward. earlier mike said he thinks he's ready to try - alright, maybe we can have it together for the pittsburgh gig, where edward lives... that in four days. crimony. we talk about "the sand pebbles" - maybe cuz I was relating something about my pop? anyway, I kind of get heated up cuz of the movie version of richard mckenna's book... now don't get me wrong, this was me and d boon's favorite movie, we loved steve mcqueen - crimony, in a sailor's suit! but for hollywood to change that ending, to have the phony lieutenant collins die and not live was really REALLY fucked up... that book was written by an enlisted man and NOT an officer. crimony. also a machinist mate, like my pop. man, so much I saw in my pop when I read that book, it was a fuckin trip. finding that book in that used book store in pittsburgh that morning while helping the porno for pyros cats on tour back in 1996 was sure a fortuitous event so many ways - big time learning from them led to my first opera... I am convinced I wouldn't have brought that w/out the stuff I learned from them but also reading mr mckenna's book - even though I saw and loved the movie - it was a HUGE PART of me bringing "contemplating the engine room" - I shit thee not. in a way that book works on so many levles for me - even more than mr joyce's "ulysses" book in some ways and I think it's the engine room/navy stuff and the connects w/my pop is cuz why. anyway, there's a boot camp the navy had here and that's why my pop was in this town to meet my ma who had moved here from peoria (about two hundred miles south) after she finished high school. they met at a 1957 benefit dance for hungarian refugees cuz of the then-recent soviet put-down of that land's uprising and though conceived here in chi-town, I was born later in portsmouth in virginia 'pert-near at the end of that year. crimony. trippy how things work out, huh? mike brings us tacos from some pad he likes that's a small chain ("bartaco" ???) and I dig mine - one's got cauliflower and broccoli sauted up. he gives me one of his pollo ones... actually I don't know what mine are - ain't that a trip? they're good though. ok, four bells is here, let's to the load-in which, w/all the stairs, is gonna be a schlep but fuck it, well worth it to play this chi-town cuz this is where I was conceived - where my pop met my ma - even though I was born in portsmouth - way east in virginia. life is full of trips, huh? the guys in openers weak lung are nice, one of them knows sam locke ward, said he did sound at "gabe's oasis" but when I say that pad's old gigboss' name doug, seems it doesn't ring a bell. that's ok, so much of my stuff might be out of date. we soundcheck w/soundman cameron, mike and hodge say bring on the b.o.c. tune so that's what we do. they 'pert-near got it right away - in parts... the whole enchilada is prolly a little way off. go down the three flights of stairs very slow back to the new boat, see a pad not far that's got empanadas - when's the last time I chowed one of them. I go to the new boat and get everything but my chonies and levis off... this is like weather in my pedro town big time, the new boat will not be a sweat box prolly for this first time this tour, huh? think so. I chimp diary. ten of nine... no mike so I yank his leash... fuckin idiot watt - ten of nine was last night, tonight is nine and a half, cazzo! I tell him I'm sorry. fuckin idiot watt, get it together. I missed eli winter who was most happening steel man sam wagster - damn me for not being able to do those stairs so well - missed the openers weaklung as well but at least got to meet them at soundcheck... correct time - I get up all those stairs, get on the stage using the osha-approved handrail hangin by one end and we bring our gig. ok, it's a character-builder but why do some gig-goers have to yammer on about that fact like yentas as we're setting that up - can't they do that in the head? it's ok, whatev - helps me be even more determined... bring it, I say! however, we do have some communication probs, me and hodge don't have much ojos which is tough for me... I tried, started at him 'pert-near the whole time - some on mike too but so much on hodge, trying hard to pry him w/my non-malevolent gaze! I had to laugh at points - actually the only clams I blew were turning on my mic mute button the wrong way which made the p.a. miss my spiel on some lines, what a fuckin stonato I am, damn me. the gig-goers here are very supportive though, really are. I thought about my ma and pop lots this gig, lots. man, I miss them.  get to talk and thank people after when I get my stuff packed. schlep everything BUT my speakerbox. I go slow but get it done safe. at the new boat I spiel w/gig-goers some more and the band who played on the bottom floor - the bassist wants me to sign her bass and it looks close (it's a danelectro) like a richard hell's first bass - I know cuz he let me play it when I visited him in his apartment! fuck, was that moment in my life. crimony! this video cat named alan who's videoed me before did tonight too - we talked earlier about puppets and stuff, really interesting. just before we shove off, this man comes up to talk to me about john coltrane "kicking dope out of the temple" (as my hero richard meltzer told me once) and fuck if later I don't realize it was john hanrahan - what a fucking idiot I am, what a fucking BIG TIME idiot... my fucking memory. damn me. we recorded an album together cuz of henry kaiser four years ago! crimony! I am so embarrassed. well, we talked about our fight w/alcohol and that was good. love john much. I get the new boat to the galewood part in the west part of chicago where sam (from one of tonight's openers, the one w/eli) has invited us to konk. really happening pad from the 1930s, 'pert-near where it gets rural west of chicago. I know it's late at night but the weather is really happening for me cuz it reminds me of my pedro town. there's a gray and white cat here that obviously runs the show, I can dig it. must be a trip for him, these smells from not around here. I'm most grateful for his kindness, I konk on the air mattress in the living room real quick, last thoughts I remember are of dick and jean watt... tuesday, october 3, 2023 - indianapolis, in from mike: Not too much wind here For chicago, pretty calm State street pub tonight La Parada chow Always a good taco stop Generous meat heaps Jordan and Mark's band Sound real good, trading words Thanks for the good night! from hodge:   tall jordan our konk pad host was the guitarist in the opening band, also the club owner played bass in the band as well, they were really intresting group kinda trace like in their approach. we have been able to stay with he and his family before, very old house lots of detail and wood accents. in the morning i heard the children running about, by the time i got out of my room they were gone to school. there is a very soulful coffee house in easy walking from jordan's house. i had been there before love the style and details of the way they do their coffee drinks. the line was really long no biggie i am not in a hurry, lo and be hold jordan is at the front of the line, he calls me up to the front and won't let me help pay for the morning fare. from watt: pop at six - big windows w/curtains drawn helps that. I catch up bof diary and photos for diary - photos for diary eat up some time, let me tell you. the bring another dimension though that some of my chimping misses and I think it's worth it I take the time. real nice olde-timey fittings on the head here, I hose off and then chow breakfast gillian w/scrambled eggs w/small tortillas and beans and stuff on the side, real good. I talk to sam about maybe him and his drummer friend (they play as a duo) come and record at _casa hanzo_ in pedro, maybe part of a so cal or even an I-5 tour, I think they'd have a good time. trippy but I do the same thing via email w/eli (sam played w/him last night w/us) 'pert-near right after when I reply to him saying he's gonna be in so cal this upcoming january/february... whoa, kind of pyschic in a way. crimony. you know, I use these silicon trips on my glasses to keep them from slipping off (especially when I'm sweaty) and I got like fifty of them for eight bucks but I brought ONLY the two that are on my glasses and damn if I don't lose one! crimony. a good look though and I'm lucky to find it - why didn't I bring at least a few on tour? damn me for being so stupid. they really do work good, the best solution I've ever had for this prob. crazy drama of my own fucking making - sotnato watt. anyway, the weather's still as great as it was yesterday as we shove off at noon, thanking sam and gillian much for their kindness. I get us on the big belt, I-290 and then onto I-90 passing downtown - thinking once more about my ma and pop. there's the crazy stuff at I-90 and we decide to try one of those shell cards mike got in madison... just before we get into indiana, just before two and damn if it's happening. "shell" stations ain't got good prices ($4.10/gallon) but this card thing works, such a kind gift... well, also no squeegee or head but that's ok cuz still such a kind gift and an hour later after I get us on I-65 south - we clean windows and use head at a "family" whatever... I avoided some drama someone who's got whatever going wanted but no thank you - I swerve to avoid. hodge gets the windows real nice and clean, much respect to him. I forgot to say we crossed into easter time zone so now we three hours ahead of my pedro town (meaning we lose another hour). I get us to the state street pub just after six, I like this place (played here once before) and soundman joe is a great cat. the barman too - he knows a lot about blue oyster cult - we prac "the red and the black" and get it more together, I like bof mike and hodge's take on it. to think I've been playing that tune for fifty some years. crimony. after check I'm looking at this pad that's been all beat up by what looks like a fire in one of its upstairs room. crimony. this lady in wheelchair asks me if I wanna ride, she's most kind but I pass. we talk for a while, bof of us w/hurt wheels but glad to meet each other. she says she knows the tire shop people on the corner and I tell her I work bass. I invite her to come see the show, she says her name is toi. I'm really glad to meet her. being in the chair don't make down, her smile is huge and I dig it. a buddy of her's rides by in the passenger seat and says hi - I tell her I'm in town to bring music. I tell her I got toi on the guest list and I'll also put plus one on it. I understand if they can't make but I am so glad for the kindness, me coming to their neighborhood from my pedro town.  mike gets me some righteous pork tacos from nearby "la parada" and damn are they good, I mean really good. also the best weather yet of the tour for sure - even in the new boat for konking and I'm out for three straight hours, I shit thee not. bad thing is though I miss bof openers, share (jordan's band) and tile - damn me but I got only so much gas in my tank... fuck I wish I was stronger, I swear. it was really a good konk and really restful for me. I get woke up by the strangest thing - still don't know what it was. whoa, eleven pm: time for us to begin, really late for us - this used to be common all the time but not now. it don't matter though tonight to me and I really enjoy the gig. us three in the band I feel have a real good time. I blow 'pert-near no clams even! me and hodge have a real good connect... maybe cuz of the little stage? I don't know but I really REALLY do enjoy tonight's gig. thank you so much indianapolis gig-goers, truly. very beautiful of them. I think the further I sit from hodge, the more difficult the gig. we have good angle now at gigs, we've worked that out to make it happening. cuz of the smaller stage tonight, I'm closer w/him and I think that's good. there's resonance from his kick drum that magnified by the stage - lots of the times it's cuz it's the way it's built - prolly the "builder" is unaware of such stuff but there is a "goldilocks" point where a stage can be too live (even a little one like this) or too dead - there definitely is an art to it. hodge can only do so much to compensate w/his playing. mike is always asking him to be aware of this and I know hodge is trying... even floor tom can add into this. luckily I got a highpass filter going w/my bergantino fort hp amp, really helps w/this prob. anyway, I still enjoyed this gig very much, really dug it I talk to a young man who soon will start college about stuff musical after signing things and speaking a little bit - this young man wants to spiel at me at the window of the new boat w/me w/the seatbelt on. there's another cat closer to my age alongside though I don't think they know each other - actually this guy has a total wrong theory about the title of the minutemen "double nickels on the dime" having something to do w/some highway numbering system but I have to tell him instead it's a response to sammy hagar saying he couldn't drive safe which annoyed us cuz his music was maybe for us too safe - why not change that shit around was the actual "meaning" of that album's title. oh well. he did say he likes to "give kids money to make music" and I think that's very happening, hope he helps this young man starting college cuz he says he's kind of broke now cuz of that. man, that would be very happening, truly. that young guy asked some real good - had a germs shirt on too, one I never seen before but he still had the blue circle - watt really loves that blue circle. I got one of those armbands! I get us over to jordan's pad (not too far away from the gigpad) and his dog buddy has nothing but love for me. oh man, VERY strong feelings from him. I konk really happy - oh yeah, second maintenance for the new boat at the crack tomorrow. crimony... not many two am konk times this tour and this is night to have one but I man up and grow a pair, correct? si... wednesday, october 4, 2023 - columbus, oh from mike: Nice warm sun sitting On Jordans bench this morning Boat service gets done I contact Marcy From Scrawl, we head to their town Always loved that band I find some health food also chinese, but was told No dumplings at all We meet golomb band They sound real good too, marcy And sue are here too! We play new encore (For us) The Red and The Black First time, good to do At Gigante house Leah takes great care even With Joel out of town from hodge: it's my sister's birthday happy birthday Melinda!!!! from watt: pop at twenty after six, have to get ready quick to get boat to ford dealership in greenwood for maintenance... it's dark when I shove off and you can imagine people doing the routes they know and this fucking idiot from out of town trying to get where he's going (I'm using my garmin gps navigator cuz I don't wanna wake mike - damn I got no mounting trip set up yet so it's just there on a 'pert-near gone sack of walnuts...) and you gotta make some moves to keep on the right track here... basically it's a 'burb like a half an hour away south of indianapolis that seems like it was former farmland... I find it though and am right behind a pickup - this "ray skillman ford" place "takes no appointments for maintenance" mike was told, "first come, first served" so that's why I'm here before the mechanics start at seven and a half. in the waiting room I chimp diary... nine am and they're done, thank you mr tad (the man who helped me) - $113 here vs $204 for oak-town ford dealership? whoa, what's that about? same stuff done, correct? looks like it on the receipt... ok, next drama watt created for himself: find another digital camera cuz like an idiot yesterday I got the one have all wet putting down in the wrong place after making a snap. mike got it dried up as good as he could but... I first go to "target" and they got zilch... I go to a "best buy" and all they got is the minolta "mind20" for $109 total but it'll do. need to take snaps on tour, need to. trippy how this greenwood town looks... it's 'pert-near like they took some strip mall big box tract home "land" from maybe so cal (maybe orange county?) and somehow rolled it up like it was carpet and then brought it this open former-farmland and unrolled it out: boom. whoa. crimony. I ain't trying to be negative, just tripping on it. I get back to jordan's pad to roust everyone - jordan and his family are already gone (so very kind they are to us, truly) so we secure the pad and bail at noon... only 175 miles for today's hellride - not exactly a hellride then, huh?  I get us on I-70 east w/skies blue but more full of clouds as we get east. of course it's the "stupid drama" show on the road, dumbfucks proving just what they are but how they behave w/these powerful machines we've invented w/'pert-near total no regard to consequences - sorry to kvetch about this once again, so sorry. somehow me and mike getting spieling - like we do cuz maybe cuz he's always in the seat next to me. today I find out he knows nothing about know nothings which really surprises me... anyway, this leads to edward bonekemp III's book my old bud donzo got into - man, I miss him dearly... crimony, I don't understand life... or death, really I don't so I "keep on keepin on" like I got suggest by mr fogerty. I recommend that book by mr bonekmper for those curious - it's just a guess but I think d boon would've dug as much as donzo did. just before two pm I pull us of at huber heights, oh at a "shell" to fuel up the new boat using one of those cards mike got from the gigboss matthew in madison at $3.40/gallon. I get us over the border into ohio a half later. I pull up to the spacebar a quarter of four - find out no parking from four to six so I stick it behind the pad by backing into an alley... only way possible cuz a shooting + auto accident happened right before we arrived, hombre all of the place - wanna steer clear of that. I chimp diary while mike goes foraging for chow... sweating away while the clouds get bigger... ok the sun's getting more and more blocked, the gigboss arrives at five so I bring the new boat around the alley for the load-in, there's no street parking 'til six though so I got a waiting game going on - OUT of the alley cuz I'm making a plug for the people who need to do laundry next door (I know, crimony - I truly wanna be a bother... people got lives and here's this fuckhead from pedro...) so I chimp day and to do the wait-wait, hoping for no more drama. crimony. I want the new boat on the street though cuz back here? uh uh... oh, the soup mike brought is real good, some pork w/bok-choy and celery kind of thing, dig it much. we soundcheck w/soundman nick and prac "the red and the black" some more - mike wants to try it tonight if we get an encore, fuck yeah! I go to the new boat and konk hard. I am tired, I am weary. I do pop early somehow and hear the openers, locals called golomb and dig what they're bringing. sounds happening even from the new boat! I hobble in just as they finish and ask drummerman hawken if I could sent him a bass track and see what kind of drum(s) he could record to that, might be a lot of fun, so glad he's into it. our turn and it's time to have some fun w/mssv - I do! I really like this gig and part of it definitely I think (!) is the columbus gig-goers and the spirit they bring, crimony. I 'pert-near wanna do the gig standing up from the chair! I don't though, ain't that stupid... gotta be careful and take chances w/the music - not the fuckin knee or w/us in the new boat w/the pendeos - or maybe I should some people acting like pendeos. anyway, me and hodge got great communication good. mike even has break the water w/the blue oyster cult tune - crimony! it's for the encore and though it careening 'pert-near into clown car ride territory, we bring it! all night some challenges w/potential kickdrum bogart but fuck if we didn't overcome it - thank you much columbus gig-goers, truly. I'm packing my stuff up - the gaunt drummerman sam says hi, I remember that band's main man killed on bicycle, terrible BUT I'm glad to get the hi from the stickman w/the beat in his hand. I think for a bit about how long everyone's "shift" gets allotted or whatever. I see bassbrother john zuck - great to see him again, he's looking healthy too, right on. my stuff put away in the new boat, I strap myself in front of the wheel. of course I'm patient and wait for the rest of us but I like to be at the ready. whoa... marcy and sue come up to the window of the new boat - so good to see them! edward turned me on to scrawl and I've think I've known them 'pert-near thirtyfive years, I shit thee not. crimony. so good to rap them as much as I can - I invite them bof to be on my show so as that can happen. beautiful sisters, truly. brother colin john two BIGGER (but not too big) bottles of topo-chico, a jar of fuckin "cracked olive salad" I guess you'd call it salad but there's no fuckin lettuce, just good olives, oil chunks, fuckin peppers and pimento great along w/his buddy blind boy billy's "liquid summer" that fucked cracked its cap off, I shit thee not. a big bassbrother who says he's a friend of rosie's back in cave junction says hi, beautiful cat w/much good spirit. actually I'm getting buttloads of good word and kindness from the columbus gig-goers, I'm truly grateful. we head north to leah's (joel's out of town) in the atrium gardens part of woorthington (columbus metro area) - this time I ain't gonna 'pert-near break my neck and be careful w/the hobbling around... this pad has different levels that you might not expect but it's beautiful. I am beat and quick get in my nightwear and onto the truaire air mattress (she's still holding up good), konking like that after first mapping out the route to the piss boof - there was actually two fucking stairs I went down, no wonder mike heard a HUGE fuckin WHOMP! went down went fraz... I mean watt. crimony. thursday, october 5, 2023 - hamtramck, mi from mike: Little rain today Still kinda warm but maybe chill Later on today? Road construction here Replacing lead water pipes (!) I find the tacos Raining for load in I remove soaked Koll hoodie Now gone, donated Good talk with Witches Backstage, and i really like Flying monitors Thank you Bob Teagan! And Ken Haas and Joe Naylor! New boat takes a blow! from hodge:   staying at brother bob teagan's house tonight, he and watt go way back, i have stayed there twice now. i get to work in the garage while everyone is asleep. i need to treat my duffle bags with Bubba's amazing enzyme spray to attempt to get the cat pee smell out. somewhere we stayed the feline wanted me to know it's their house. do you know how hard it is to remove that smell. i sprayed and blotted into the night. seemed to work at the time. only to realize that this kind of thing may take several applications. uggghhh!!! from watt: pop at seven, go piss and hose off. I fall NOT ONCE in this pad, am super careful w/where I hobble, checking out exactly where each foot is gonna go. we gotta bail at nine cuz of video recording we're gonna do in toledo... I don't think we even go to thank leah for all her kindness - maybe she was still konked? think so. so kind to us though, truly. I get us on us-23 going northeast - I know this road cuz it goes to ann arbor, mi and I got to help the stooges for 126 months so I know a little about that town! ronnie had me stay at the house many times, loved that man. we're headed for toledo where reverend guitars is cuz of like I said, we're gonna do two tunes for the boss ken there, he asked me if we'd do that and of course I'm into helping him however I can. him and joe worked w/so very hard to come w/this wattplower mk II I've been playing for a few years now, love it. they never once wavered, never! they believed in me and my ideas and we brought it together. it's gray skies the whole trip (135 miles) and actually it ain't us-23 the whole way cuz at findaly we get on I-75... we'll use this later to get to hamtramck. anyway, we arrive at a half hour earlier than our noon agreed time which is happening cuz I get to spend more time w/ken. they got the whole building now and have turned one room into a place where we're gonna do "human reaction" and "say what you gotta say" using their stuff except for our guitars and hodges's cymbals. it's one take for each, yeah - we've been doing these every night! they chow us tacos in the room I know cuz when I was here before - there's some guitars vernon reid have designed w/ken and joe on the bulkhead, whoa. alright.  we gotta shove off for hamtramck, we're playing small's there tonight. the rain starts coming down - first big rain of the tour. hamtramck sure is interesting, lots of different stuff in a small space - sign says "two square miles"  I pull us into the back via an alley, no prob getting in... this will be important later. mike goes to forage for tacos and brings us back some really REALLY good ones - oh man, 'pert-near like those ones indianapolis, I shit thee not. oh man. the rain starts really coming down w/the padboss mike arrives at five and we gotta do the load-in, crimony. gotta do what we gotta do" like tom herman says in his "autumn leaves" (not your parents "autumn leaves") I talk w/soundman dave and mark of mark paul & his red flags about playing in "the shelter" in the old days, a gig where megadeath was upstairs and thought tom watson's guitar was bogarting their sound - this was from his little fender bandmaster! lots of stories about the old days, like the old "paychecks lounge" here in hamtramck even. crimony. nice cats. the witches are on the bill also, like last time mssv was here. it was like and hour and a half to get here from toledo (seventy miles) but I'm spent so I got to the new boat and konk. fuck did I konked hard - I'm sure I heard something though... something besides the rain. I pop at nine and a half - five minutes before go time, fuck does that stuff trip me out - mike's a the new boat's hatch to see me ready to go and I hobble to the hatch which is very happening at this pad to be right there by the stairs up to the stage, crimony! love it. I hobble up and we bring our set. not as good communication w/me and hodge as last night but way better than the nightmare stuff we've had earlier when there was 'pert-near "deficit communication" - whatever the fuck that actually means - what I'm trying to convey is a feeling and something so much quantitative, sorry to yammer stumblebum spiel like this but sometimes when I'm chimping diary, I ain't got the time to really edit and check for clams and/or reading/comprehension - my sincere apologies. I really wanna do good for the reverend guitars cats ken and joe, really do. the lights are bright in my eyes so I can't really see the hamtramck gig-goers (them included) but am most totally looking at hodge and mike anyway, I think it's essential for me in this sitch. the hamtramck gig-goers are most supportive though, really happening folks to get a chance to work a gig for, truly. we do actually now that I think of it pretty ok but I get into measuring sometimes too maybe too much w/a gig from the night before. we encore again w/the blue oyster cult tune and make progress on last night's - I think that was for sure. thank you much mike and hodge, also the good people here in hamtramck tonight. I pack up my stuff and get help from reverend guitars ken w/the bass speakerbox, he takes real good direction getting it into the new boat proper, much respect to him. a friend of mike's, curt from red panda gives a "bitmap" pedal, so kind of him. he tells me about what it does w/mangling the sound - very interesting - he says it'll work w/bass. I'm gonna use it soon as I can to get the last track done that I owe al margolis and walter wright for our watt kagon proj. I get to rap w/my old bud ewolf - I love this man, we go way back - even before bob teagan and here he is, still coming to my shows and bringing righteous spirit to inspire me to no end... I always wanna do good for brother ewolf, always.  I then spiel w/reverend guitars designerman joe a bunch - first about the new pickup he's designed to put in the neck position of the wattplower II cuz there's no more of the "pit bull" rio grande pickups since that designerman (dave wendt) passed away last year. very sad about that, he made a great pickup - I got them first to put in the "dan bass" and even got to talk to him from his shop in houston, much respect to him, truly. can't wait to try out joe's... love his pblade ceramic ones (dave's were alnico - it's the only pickup I'm using on this current mssv tour). then joe wants to know about secondmen drummerman jer getting hurt last year while on the job (he's also a longshoreman) that 'pert-near killed him. his cousin mike's a good friend of jer's - part of the connect that got me going w/reverend guitars (besides ronnie in the stooges playing their stuff). I relate the whole story of jer (it happened during the last mssv tour, jer writing me soon as he could about it... check my diary entry here - scroll down to april 7, 2022) having an allergic reaction to gluten while at work on can boat and finding himself ten feet from where he last remembered in a pool of his own blood w/teef knocked out, big holes in his head and nose all broke and moved over... 'pert-near killed - these philippino sailors found him (he had no backup cuz he was hatchboss) and saved his life. crimony. now here's my sad part - nothing compared to jer (he's all healed up these days but of course has the scars) but the new boat took some blows... crimony, after all loaded up and saying our bye byes, I bring her out whence came BUT since then the trash dumpster near the gate got moved and was now way too close to make the cut in the alley and the port side took scrapes... yeah, the sensors that help w/front and back didn't detect this and though it's little and I halted her soon as I head the sound, there's a six inch scrape w/a couple of smaller parallel ones. damn. we get out and all heave together to move that fucking dumpster which makes the move possible. we make it happen. lesson to learn here is we gotta check out the route the new boat's gonna take in tight sitchs BEFORE we make them. not a disaster but a reality check and something to learn from... sometimes I feel like such a slow learner! crimony. we keep on keepin on... I get us to bob's pad in frasier just before minight - oh, on the way out of hamtramck, some fuckhead in the lane next to us out and out runs a red light that had been burning bright that way before we got there and continued to - a real flagrant asshole move and everyone in the new boat is fucking tripping - well, mike says he believes there's no one but assholes on the road anyway so it's no surprise. me, I'm just glad we didn't witness one motherfuckin big ol' tbone righte before our eyes, what the flying fuck? cazzo!! fuck, sti cazzi!!!. the rain has paused this whole way and when I drop anchor, I get my yellow duct tape and get it on those just-now hurts on the new boat to keep the rain off the bare metal that resulted. they're just some scratches but I don't want it leading to somthing worse. the yellow duct tape is good for more than just spiking the stage, yes...  where I always konk at bob's, I plop and hear tenko doing her "tsuyakeshi no yami" - something bob filmed in 1986 at cbgb and I look forward to hearing it every single time I come to his pad - love this man - you know bob's been letting me konk at his pad thirtyeight years? I shit thee not! twice I hear the happening tenko tune and then I'm out... man, do I live in interesting times or what? friday, october 6, 2023 - pittsburgh, pa from mike: Woken by the beep And some loud neighbor drama Hodges bag is safe Four egg bites denied We head out in good weather Parking right out front Im excited by The prospect to meet Edward But i keep focus I offer help to Manny, he seems not to trust I help anyways Great to see Eric And Raymond, guitar brethren Lamest tacos yet I meet Ed in front We talk for such a long time Learned 'hose in high school We play a good set Eyes are good, dynamics, etc So fun to play here Thanks for jamming Ed! You played and sounded so great I still learn from you from hodge: the spirit lodge pittsburgh, pa. we have worked here before it's cool venue, load-in has stairs oh well, this gig was special cause "ed from ohio" fIREHOSE guitarist sat in with us on the encore we did the blue oyster cult song "the red and the black". ed sounded great and the folks there at spirit lodge were way into it! we got to stay at gary and jessica's house like last time. their little jack russell terrier "bo" was all over the place a real live wire. jessica and gary are great hosts and we all had time to do laundry. from watt: pop at seven and a half, man was I tuckered. I chow these "egg bites" bob microwaves for me, they seem to be egg whites w/pieces of bacon in them... seem to be just kind of processed... damn are they salty. he wants to get us coff but the new boat's in the way. I'm gonna back her out of the driveway and see the sack hodge left of his behind but when these people who apparently were out for their walk see it - they freak out to "save" it, causing drama. now I could see that w/the new boats rear camera but they prolly didn't know that. now for the old boat, that would've total been in a "blind side" and oh my god but... well, you can kind of read the scene, huh? later I'll ask hodge to think about where he puts stuff in the future. there's a lot of team work on tour, 'pert-near always, huh? that's the reality on the dealio. bob lost his trumpet player friend john hassell and he plays stuff from for me, beautiful. so glad he turned me on to him. we'll see bob again day after tomorrow in cleveland hopefully but now we got to get ourselves to pittsburgh... this is what we've practicing that blue oyster cult song for, correct? we pull anchor seven after planned our ten, it's alright... it's alright... it's all right! whoa, the I-75 is in good shape - bof for its surface (smoov) and it's status (unplugged) - crimony! there's been times where I've had to go as far west as us-23 into ann arbor to bypass the stau nightmare, this is great. so are the skies - all that rain stuff blew out but prolly blew east which is where we're headed... we got three hundred miles to do. I get across into ohio and soon cross the maumee - bye bye michigan, twenty minutes later I pull us off at a "loves" a mile before getting on the ohio turnpike, mike gasses up the new boat for $3.40/gallon (his advance thinking has led to him to now saving the "shell" cards for places w/steeper prices). got the new boat's miles-per-gallon up to nineteen again, yatta. we pass ravenna - the one in italy is where dante finished his "comedia" - where the florentines tried to steal his bones (he died there) after exiling him under pain of death, stucazz?!! humans can be so strange. we cross into pennsylvania and switch turnpikes at about two, big clouds start looming overhead. one more piss stop (no gas-up) at a "american natural" (first time I've heard one of these) after a roadside piss stop mike had to do cuz I guess he can't hang w/piss bottles - I gotta make sure we do the two hour stops, just gotta cuz it's the reality on the dealio and there's no use pretending or making anyone suffer. I'm into it also - a good evolution.  I get us docked in front of the spirit lodge (our gigpad for tonight) in the lawrenceville part of pittsburgh at ten of four. so glad to beat the fuckin pile of traff that was already starting to build. sorry to say but it seems like being on the road these days is like being in fuckin 'puter chat room - everyone wearing sheets/hoods and acting like assholes - it's that fuckin abstract and real at the same time it seems, like driving on a road w/someone else driving on that road ain't a fuckin cooperative endeavor but something else way more selfish/bogus. just putting it out there. bof mike and hodge wander on foot while I chimp diary. I need to rest some - that was six hours w/two ten minute stops. crimony. well, "arrive live" is what matters most so I'm glad to be able to do my part.  sun coming down while I'm chimping diary in mike's seat in the new boat (starboard fore)... canadian geese come flying overhead, all of them honking and it's a trip - ain't got those in pedro! the part-owner man says hi and thanks me for playing here and I tell him I dig playing here - actually I was turned on to this pad from mr tom - once I asked him where should I play and this pad was his recommend... much respect. promoterman manny arrives and asks if I'm hot cuz I got my shirt off... uh, maybe? he is trippy to talk w/and I gotta repeat many things - maybe I talk like an idiot? don't know. mr tom and maux can't make it cuz they're out of town. I'm gonna try hard for bof of them tonight and also edward said he's gonna be here - w/his guitar, yes! hate to say it but the worst tacos we've had all tour. I don't like chimping something like that but crudo tortillas crumbling up big time - what? mike agrees and he's the one who got 'em. this ain't bogus kind of you know from where kind but stuff that would actually be happening if they were made better, like if someone who knew had learned them. the other shit is gonna be shit no matter what cuz of - well you know why but this is just from not know what the fuck is up, I think. anyway, I don't wanna sound like some snob cuz I ain't about that - that's a terrible way to live. however when you good eats from happening tacos, it's hard to accept stuff just made lame. ok, don't mean to yammer on this - at least I didn't get sick so that's a victory. after we soundcheck w/soundman corman, I go chimp diary in the new boat and after a bit the fucking rain really starts coming down, it's fucking pouring. whoa. too dangerous for my cojo self so I batten myself in and konk.  ten after ten mike rousts me and I'm soon where I need to be for us to start. sure wish I could've seen weekend patns cuz they nice cats and I've heard their recordings - they played w/us last time we worked this room. it's a great spirit the pittsburgh gig-goers bring to the spirit lodge and we have a really good gig. there's some clams but nothing nightmare and nothing that might be a new way to do the tune anyway. I feel real good about edward joining us for the encore. he does real good - not used to this slower mssv version of "the red and the black" but still bring w/makes edward edward - he's got a minutemen shirt on, the one w/one of the "double nickels..." labels that d boon drew himself - respect! big hugs for edward from me, big hugs.  we go to the new boat - oh first brother gary helps me w/my speakerbox, does great taking direction and getting loaded into the new boat - and spiel as much as we can - he's got a ride waiting for him so I help as much as I can for now, love edward much. I then I get the word from the gig-goers that didn't already give me much kindness on my way here. I spiel a little while w/a father/son team who did 260 miles round trip for this gig, MUCH respect to them. the son wants some bass tips so I hip him to dancing w/the kick drum and always aiding and abetting the tune, making that the focus. humans can be very beautiful also - this is why I play my hardest, always.  we pull anchor and now it's mr toad's wild ride to get out of pittsburgh and to nearby sewickley where brother gary is, jess is there to w/jack russle bo who's much full of life - it's his pad. it's a great pad and I hose off... first scale I've seen all tour - I ask brother gary if it's accurate and he says he weighs himself once a week. it reads 158.8 lbs when I step on it - mine said 160 when I left my pedro town twentysix days ago... cutting down the sugar's really helped me, really has - I feel so much better. konk too comes just like that these days and in fact, soon that's what comes! crimony. saturday, october 7, 2023 - cleveland, oh from mike: Great to see Gary And Jessica - thanks for the Muffins! Big big help I repack and whoa! Almost forgot the nice gifts from Red Panda Curt! Demos' has made us allergy friendly meal now His new dog is sweet At beachland, bob's here! And i get to meet Dave too I nap in green room We play better here Tonight than last year, i think Two talkers near stage I direct guitar Solo in their direction After watt gives words Bob has it on film Back to Demos' - up to bed Early morn coming from hodge: ahh here we get to stay with demos ioannou, what a great host and charming person on this earth. we got to his pad early prior to sound check, he cooks for us, love him!! he's got the sexy hot tub if your in the mood for a hot soak under the moonlight. me i was in my usual spot in the basement have my own shower and such, got a much needed yoga session in down there the wee hours. he had to leave really early for the Canadian border 6:30am had to miss demos' famous breakfast from watt: pop at eight, whoa... I was tuckered. piss and take my tudca - like to this on an empty stomach. the coff's been set to go - so great of jess. she makes up breakfast for the rest but me and mike hold out for demos in cleveland cuz he's got a chow waiting for us when we get there. the rain has stopped and we got sun... definitely clouds to the east (where we're going) but for now, sun. before I bail, gary shows me how he's set up is garage to be like a "live house" (lots of gigpads in japan do live house), I am really into him getting into music like this, he's gonna do gigs here - w/his band! crimony. it's beautiful to see music change people's lives, really is for me. well, demos has chow for us at his pad in shaker heights, oh so bye bye to gary, bo and jess - such kind people, truly. I really get myself grounded and rested when I'm at gary's, happens every time. we'er mr tom and maux this trip but in a way they were there in spirit.  we backtrack here in terms of the big picture - some people are curious about this but that's prolly cuz they don't know there's a lot of factors in booking a tour and I think has really done a good job. the backtrack ain't that bad... only about 120 miles this frist hitch anyway - short stuff! I get us on the pennsylvania turnpike west to the ohio turnpike (crossing the state line at one) w/a piss stop at a service area w/a plaque honoring the underground railroad:  I get us to my old buddy demos' pad in shaker heights thirtyfive minutes before our agreed arrive time - he's got a new dog luigi!  he's also got the thirtyfour star u.s. flag flying, becoming thirtyfive stars at end of the civil war and you know why, correct? (some spiel on it here) we don't need that to happen again, that's my opinion. can you believe walt whitman wrote those twelve poems in 1855 to try and stop that war? had to put it out himself, diy. crimony.  demos has cooked is up a good chow of pork loin that's real tender and juicy - nothing this time to make mike sick last time either. there's red cabbage and couscous also, good stuff and I chow a good bunch. thank you so much demos, truly. I think I've been konking w/him for like twentyfive years now - first time was during the last tour of the first album in madison... crimony. we gotta get over to the beachland tavern for soundcheck (about eight miles north from demos' pad), soundman ryan is most kind to us, same w/dave from c-level who's opening for us... he's got a sack of tangerines, some kind of bars and yes, 'dines - wild caught ones in olive oil, yatta! most kind of him, truly, SUCH a kindness. also here is bob from night before last, drove all the way from fraser in michigan, much respect. we spiel a bunch about hawaii and times he had there, tells me all kinds of things. love bob much, truly. he's gonna film tonight, most happening.  I go to the boat just to rest a bit but damn if konk don't take me and I'm out like that. crimony. tiredness: "the unpaid piper," huh? I'm living proof.  mike rousts me for quarter of ten go - damn did it all turn cold! I gotta get some more blankies. I get it together and get to the stage, real easy here the way they got the hatch w/no stairs to struggle w/and soon we're bringing it to the cleveland gig-goers and the give back, give back w/much respect except for a few (maybe it was only one!) yammers that got diarrhea of the moug bad and I even have to tell them to shut the fuck up during my spiel in new tune "boat song" - right after mike directs his guitar solo right at them and it is not soft and gentle, no. crimony. pretty good gig in spite of that though, I enjoyed and am most grateful for the kindess.  I schlep my stuff to the new boat which ain't far - john petkovic helps me but seems upset by what he calls my "esperanto" way of giving direction - guess he doesn't want me to have any fun. crimony. I love the cat anyway. wasco's here too...  but I don't get much spiel w/him, john's got a lot on his mind and damn I wish I could be here more for him but we got a six and half bail time before the crack of dawn tomorrow. we gotta pull anchor and get back to shaker heights where I ain't got time for demos either, gotta konk. so it goes w/tour - this is our work. mike talks about dong a tour where there's no gigs, just him visiting w/cats... that's an idea, huh? let me sleep on it... it's just after midnight... I'm out. sunday, october 8, 2023 - toronto, canada from mike: We pull out early Quick bye to Demos - he is Truly generous BIG Thank you Marty For helping us stash the merch Goodbye Hiyori Border crossing here I keep checking all papers Want to get it right At the lewiston Crossing, i go in building Labyrinthine-type US folks give me Time share talk about Carnets I say no thank you Got my stamps and now We go to Canada booth He waves us in... cake! First foreign gigs for This band together, i like To see the world We get to parking I am so cold and missing My koll sweater here I walk toronto And find fifteen dollar (CAN) Jacket, keeps rain off I find the tacos But i pass Naija food stand... No jollof today I like horseshoe lots Great vibe and old feelings here Great crew also helps! Its thanksgiving here Somehow i completely spaced On this while booking I meet Thresher band I really like their sound and tape loops with improv We play well, and learn Still about getting kick / floor Damped better through house Chandan says "whats up!" He rides back with us, one ways But we do get there I ask him to play His trad instruments for me Sounds so Beautiful from hodge: first gig in canada for mssv gig went great the folks were very generous with their applause. it's was raining so my walking was short and to the point, first starbucks mostly for the clean restroom and ok a cup of corporate coffee. found a cuban sandwich shop, they were playing conga music the sound of drums spilled out onto the sidewalk. i went back later to hopefully grab a sandwich for later, too late denied, oh well. like dad use to say do it when you think of it, basically don't kick the can down the road. got to konk at Chandan's very soulful house, had the smell of nag champa insense. he made us breakfast and we all got in the boat, we dropped him off at the train station. and we're off to montreal. from watt: pop at six, we gotta shove off in a half hour so I shave and do teef brush - we got a border crossing (not state one but country one) coming soon... I hear demos and spiel w/hodge, table is set up... what? we discussed today's agenda yesterday? demo is most kind but out of step - he gives me portable chow container of what he cooked up... I'll get to that when I can but still dark w/miles to go, "toot-toot philadelphia" - correct? lucky no rain. bye bye to demos, he truly most kind and I can't wait see him again... we pull anchor four minutes late but I'll take that... we got 177 miles to do for the "first leg" of today's rollin' just before getting I-80 east, mike gasses the new boat up at a "shell" station, I contribute change from a five for a coff to something educational for cleveland, I feel they deserve (wasco's a teacher here, correct?). onward, we pass the exit for painesville - fIREHOSE recorded "fROMOHIO" at a studio there called suma, where much pere ubu stuff was done (that's why we picked it!). fortyfive minutes after that it's bye bye ohio and once more into pennsylvainia (it won't be the last time this tour) and up around lake erie through the town of erie, there's on and off rain but not too bad. it is cold, in the high forties. crimony. at ten and a half I get us off at the village of fredonia - yeah, close to the same name as that land groucho's running in "duck soup" where we use the one head at a "kwik-stop" to foul and also I get a sack of "keto trail mix" cuz I've been hearing hodge talk about a keto way of eating and fuck, let's see what's that about...  kind of nuts w/some kind of small little "parmesan wafer" type of trips? the stuff's ain't bad. a half later I get us into new york and we're seneca country - we reach marty's pad in hamburg just before ten, he booked our buffalo gig and we'll konk here after before heading for ithaca. great to see marty again, I dig him much. I chow the plate demos made for me this morning w/the last of that "cracked olive salad" I got last thursday in columbus, real good on the eggs, bacon and potato bits he cooked/flowed - thank you demos! "third leg" for today (forget about the second one!): 99 miles - I do this by getting us across the border into canada via the lewiston bridge - first mike (for his first time)() registers our musical gear on the u.s. side (he said the border were most kind) and then w/all the paperwork in order, the canada border man gives us the gee-oh and we're guests of his land for our next two gigs and we're most grateful, most grateful. big time butter, we're most grateful. right at the boof here, all done after a look-see of our passports and paperwork, MOST grateful. it's noon and onward into ontario, forward toward toronto... mike says he's digging the signs that display the incentives for respecting the speed laws here:  east now on the qew, w/do the hundred klicks/hour, no prob. there's some plug as we come up canada's big town but I've had way worse, actually we never even have to stop. it's two and a half when I drop anchor behind the horseshoe tavern - I put new boat's culo right on the hatch, between the trashcans w/room to spare. I chimp diary while mike and hodge wander, mike come backs w/some great tacos, yatta. we do the load-in at four, soundcheck w/soundman brycen who is very cool people - he knows about tuning drums which we find out while me and hodge are discussing what we did w/my first opera, also the technique about using the kick drum as the back beat to free up the snare to do all kinds of other stuff... man, was making the piece a trip, truly was. I think some of the stuff mike's trying to bring out us has something to do w/that, I think so. I meet the cats in the openers for tonight, thresher who are from owen sound which they tell me is like two hours north. we talk about improv and letting the freak flag fly - like who goes first in such sitchs cuz I'm always curious about that. I get tom watson on my leash and we have a real good rap, he says he's feeling better - had a rough time but is getting though it and is looking forward to playing w/me and raul w/out new missingmen stuff - he's excited about the upcoming december start for our next album at _casa hanzo_ w/peetzo on the knobs (he's gonna mix it too). I go to the new boat but damn if it ain't really cold... I need to get more blankies. three times I get woken up - what? hell, too much after the third time so I go inside - thresher's already under way, I'm so glad I don't miss much of them cuz I'm digging what they bring - I watch the whole enchilada   they bring a big piece that had all kinds of wheels w/in wheels BUT no drummer - that's trippy but it doesn't mean there wasn't any rhythm cuz there was rhythm in the swirls of sound they brought, very trippy and I'm lit for our turn. got a tip on the shoulder from michael (he's having me aboard for a doc on bass is and here to say hi, so glad he got the chance to talk w/k also for this cuz she's got big time insights) but damn if I'm into the threhser set to really spiel w/him - so sorry mihchael, truly I am! quarter of ten - sunday, yes but it's canada's thanksgiving so there a holiday tomorrow which makes kind of a weekend gig. like last night, I wear my yellow coat all zipped up for our set - the sudden switch to "not hot" still has me reeling so keep it on, never really had it off since leaving demo's pad in shaker heights... I don't think so. we bring the gig w/me and hodge having real good communication tonight - there's been lots of that since he put on the big boy pants and put away the chart in sain paul, truly there has. clams are blown by the bass player but he gets it together immediately upon such incidents and keeps the keel in the water. we have to re-start "pity parody" after a no-go gee-oh, no prob. I can't see the toronto gig-goers. I'm most grateful to bof mike and hodge but also the thresher cats - ther's something about getting lit up for your own gig after witnessing someone else, I shit thee not. last night we went back to the "yank it out/1969/equinox" encore after three nights of "the red and the black" and damn if I didn't clam my own tune, the one I wrote for jim keltner, "yank it out" but tonight I rectify that. only three nights w/out and space! crimony. well, got that back into shape. the toronto gig-goers want even more but I'm kind of spent - next time. soundman brycen says we mixed ourselves, he said he just turned us up! what kind thing to say from a fellow music man, big respect to him. I put away my stuff and get the good word from many w/much kindness here to night, I'm most grateful, truly. I schlep my stuff myself except mike helping me w/some w/the speakerbox and a few stairs. it's good for me to be self-reliant and kind of exercise also. I get myself strapped in behind the wheel and chow a can of 'dines from dave from last night - mixed w/that "southern sunshine" they're real good. wash it down w/some cold acqua frizantte, love it. next to the new boat is the ride holding a bunch of the thresher crew... we talk about how each are so glad to share the stage together before they bail back for home. much respect and safe seas to them. chandan, a cat who's been going to my gigs since he was a student in nor cal at berkeley (fIREHOSE days!) is sitting suddenly where mike usually sits - whoa... so glad to him see him! he guides to his pad in what he calls "the 'burbs" w/good spiel all the way there, very interesting. can't thank him enough for the insights. at his pad I drop anchor... I am tuckered big time. he takes my levis and chonies to get washed. he has me konk in a bed his ma used - his whole family is out of town and she was visiting but is also w/them... even his dogs. so very kind for him to share his pad w/us, so very kind. true north up here in canada, truly. I can't spiel any more cuz I'm wore out. I konk in moments after lying down - even in a bed, first one I've used all the tour - first one I've used in how long? crimony... monday, october 9, 2023 - montreal, canada from mike: Coffee time again And i talk with Desola She is in Japan We head up north now Interesting history I learn from watt here It all manifests At the province border now No more crown on signs Only French on signs No more dual language signs They make it quite clear chop sue me plays a Wipers song at sound check - great! We talk wipers love I walk far for grub Feels like Europe here with Only French signs up We play a good gig then find our sleep pad here Back to homeland soon from hodge: lotta rain and wind on our ride to montreal. also lotta discussion about altering our exit from canada to avoid toronto to avoid their thanksgiving traffic. we are hustling to make sound check we all agree that we would have been better to leave at 9am instead of 10am. we are usually an hour or two early to arrive at the next gig. we actually got to our sound check on time, trevor was our sound person, we decided to use my microphones and he ran a shure sm81 as an overhead, puts a halo a more open sky above the drum mix. we have some pretty subtle nuances, quiet bits where the vibes form the cymbals can be coaxed along with the overhead mic. after sound check i walked to cafe italia for a double espresso, it wasn't just a nice coffee shop it was a locals italian hangout. neighborhood meeting place, very cool i heard alot of italian being spoken, and of course my coffee was muy bella!!! about the music, folks speaking to me after the gig out by the van are blown away by mike baggetta's compositions and the communication between watt and myself. feels good to work so hard on a project like this and have the people really get inspired and enjoy what we are doing. after all that's what we pray for. from watt: pop at seven and a half, man was I tuckered. I chow these "egg bites" bob microwaves for me, they seem to be egg whites w/pieces of bacon in them... seem to be just kipop at seven and hose off real good, great shaua here at chandan's. he makes up coff and cooks up scrambled eggs w/onions in the which I use the hashi w/to cut down on the shoveling but short-circuit that some w/bringing the plate up to my mouf like a baka. we talk about a lot of stuff, some of linguistic (human) and some evolutionary w/life in general - actually kind of all over the place going from this to that as the tangents find themselves where the end up being, connecting (kind of) all kinds of spiel. very interesting for me though and I dig it. hodge joins in. near ten bells mike appears and that's our cue - we shove off, taking chandan to the train station...  ...before I get us on (bye bye brother chandan, you're most kind and beautiful - can't wait to see you again!) the "crownie" 401 east toward quebec and montreal - we got about 320 miles to make to get there, no prob. at eleven I get us off at new hope to get gass the new boat at at "shell" but those gas cards mike from gigboss matthew in madison got are good for only u.s. stations... oh well, we fuel up anyway for $1.41 (canadian)/gallon, mike tripping big time on the plastic canadian money (maybe his first time w/it?). we continue east, rain on and off - same w/some pendeos driving like, well, pendejo (acting like a fucking pendejo behine the wheel it seems is an "equal opportunity employer" meaning nationality ain't any kind of an issue) so I keep the "cushions" (spaces free of pendejos, fore and aft) going as much as I can. canadian highway speed limits are usually 100 klicks/hour (about 62.2 mph)... mike digs the roadside status signs that have "traffice moving well" enlightening us to that areas' current status, says he feels optimistic when he sees them illuminated.  I space and forget the "two hour rule" - hodge request head call at the mallorytown "onroute" service area at one and half - sorry hodge. I stay in new boat and piss in the apel saft bottle re-purposed piss bottle cuz that's what it's for and these "service areas" are huge zoos I'd rather not wade in if I don't have to. I'm chowing on the peanuts that chandan turned me on to, they got chili and curry spices, I dig them. it's been raining for an hour now on us but not too heavy. three and a half, we're out of ontario and into quebec, no more "crownie" 401, it's now 20 in red/white/blue, kind of like our interstate scheme... trippy. other stuff is different too but the weather now's about the same. I get us to tonight's gigpad (bar le ritz pdb)just before four and a half, a little late but gigboss caitlin says it's ok. I'm told this is near the "little italy" part of montreal... we unload in light rain - no parking so I bring the new boat around to side street nearby to grab a prime place out front soon as six and a half comes around. soundman trevor is very cool, I rap w/him and gigboss caitlin about my gigs in montreal going back to les foufounes electriques - yeah, forty years ago... crimony. la sall rosa is a great pad (bassbrother mauro's) too. hell, chapu lives here - he put out my "spiels of a minuteman" book on his l'oie de cravan imprint... I hope he's here tonight if possible. I meet the two joes and an antoine that make up the openers for us tonight chop sue me - real nice cats, an honor to share the stage w/them in their town tonight. I have my first fuckin apple of the tour - something I find in fridge backstage where I chimp diary 'til it's our turn for soundcheck w/soundman trevor. I go to the new boat, make the move we need to do to get happening parking, mike bringing me these great tacos that are in parts that I have to assemble myself which is no prob and they taste fucking great - happening chunks of pork I supplement w/the supplied onions and cilantro along w/some trippy salsa I've never had before - love it, mi gusta! I chimp diary for yesterday...  a I get back in the pad to see the last part of the openers, I'm digging them - later I wanna invite on my show - it's been a while since I've played in montreal? why? I'm an idiot!  I get up on the stage using my culo, it's a safe method. the last two gigs I wore my yellow coat during our performance but I decide not tonight - tonight I wanna wear the blue shirt my sister melinda picked for me for this tour that I've been wearing the whole tour - actually I was wearing it the last two but it was UNDER the yellow coat. we bring the set and most respectful are the montreal gig-goers, most respectful. they let explore our dynamic thing big time, the are patient and they are focused - it helps us to do the same. music can be a trippy thing like that, huh? I enjoy the gig much, we got good communication, the gig's got flow - the gig's not w/out clams but that's small stuff in a real big picture - I dig how the mssv band has really come together to make a sound, make a gig, make a connect and same the montreal gig-goers, w/out doing it over the mic I bow at the end use mouf to show "merci merci merci" and I truly mean it. putting away my stuff, somebody hands my up what he calls a "plaid" - back in pedro we call it a "flannel" - he's prolly more right cuz the design is a plaid where flannel is a kind of brushed cotton... anyway, it's a shirt and I did it much. a helperman helps w/my speakerbox off the stage and then let's me use it like a walker which is what I like to do - merci to him so much. I meet an old bassbrother who's lost his eyesight - he's come to see me play many times and it's so beautiful he's here tonight. he's made a bass he wants to show me, one made real light by him removing sections of the body - beautiful.k I hug him big time and tell him I love him. I then make my way out and to the new boat, that same helperman taking direction very well and getting my stuff into the boat, merci beaucoup. out by the new boat, cabral and his buddy discuss lots of good stuff - get to see a photo of his pop on standup, much respect. there's trumpet man from chile... here's steve howe from our proj the island - we're talking about doing yet another album, can't wait. oh yeah, he told me tonight's his bday!'  finally just before getting behind the wheel of the new boat, I rap w/gord from a band that played w/the minutmen back in 1984, honest injun - so good to see him if only for briefly. what a way to say good bye to all the nice cats who've spoken w/me tonight, BIG hugs for him, truly. finally, I get to meet roy vucino, yatta! I got to do bass for some tunes on his new album, very kind of him. trippy to meet cats in person after connecting w/them w/music, truly. he even gives the invite for us to konk at his pad but I think mike's already got that going but damn, how very kind of frere roy. good people. mike guides me wheeling the new boat not a whole lot far away to an air b where I'm so tuckered I just konk right there on the couch NOT in my nightwear but what I wore during the day EXCEPT the yellow coat. I use two thin blankies hodge flows me. I am so tuckered. damn. so tuckered BUT so glad I got to play montreal again, so glad - it's worth the getting tuckered, oui. tuesday, october 10, 2023 - buffalo, ny from mike: The wake is early Change of route, watt's good idea Less traff, easy cross Hello Hiyori! Raining freezing jogging man Taco Matt, not cool Great gig here - good vibe Marty - St. Marty - the best Big big thanks to you! from hodge: we got up and left the air b&b at 6am it's a moody gray blue morning on the road. we are heading back into the usa. making route adjustments to avoid canada's Thanksgiving traffic getting around toronto. we have quite a way to go today. our border crossing coming into canada was the smoothest and fastest i have ever been part of. it can be very tough if the least little thing is out of place things can really bog down. we are here parked near the venue, watt has been driving since 6am it is now 3:30pm (nine & a half hours) dang!! baggetta is off walking in the rain to grab chow for dinner, he works hard lot of hats he wears to do this work. we stayed at marty's house in the country, we have a short driver today so we are staying here till 1pm, sure beats leaving at 6am! marty is an archaeologist working on a new stadium near indian burial grounds he also books the bands at the club we played. really interesting person also a chef. he make a great place for alot of bands to stay in his home. from watt: pop at five and a half. a couple hours ago I popped and it was weird - I think cuz of this tour shirt being polyester (fuckin plastic), it "rubbed" me fuckin wrong. I know I wear it during the day and at gigs but maybe w/konk it just adds up to too much, like my skin can't fuckin breathe or something. anyway, I take that motherfucker off and get back konked just like that. the second, real pop is when I hose off and get into all clean outfit for this hellride - levis and chones are ones washed and not yesterdays - they go in the ropes sucio bolsa and that into the daidai sack - yeah, I bring just two sacks on tour - this is what I've learned from forty of years of touring. of course it's dark when we get in the new boat and we begin our return to the homeland. it's pretty much when we cam BUT a very important difference about halfway - le me explain: yesterday I was dreading the potential plug at toronto - the lands biggest town and there's no belt around it. then I used some mapping internet trips and found a route thirty miles shorter and not only that - it avoids what I was fearing w/wading through the big town... there's a crossing back into the u.s. called the thousand island bridge which can put you right on I-81 for syracuse and from the there we can go west on the new york thruway straight to buffalo. fuck, why didn't I think of that when mike presented my options months ago when he started booking this tour? fuck am I big time giant fucking baka, an fuckin obaka baka-yero! crimony. ok enough of the kvetch now that I've admitted being way big time slow-learner BUT at least it was in time for this swerve-to-avoid maneuver, hallelujah. six bells and we begin mission actually back to marty's in hamburg, like fifteen miles south of buffalo. it's a little crazy you got people going to work and knowing where they need to go and then you got me trying to know what the correct lane to get on the correct road that connects to the other other correct road - thank god we got mike in the navigator seat cuz his help is essential and let's me to try and basically keep us safe. hodge is giving moral support to bof of us. about seven or so we cross into ontario province but I ain't sure cuz I fuckin scissored all my photos from this ride like a fuckin baka. still learning the little econo camera and my memory is terrible - even writing about it the next day! crimony. I do remember stopping at one of those "onroute" pads to spend the eighty or so canadian dollars mike had on gas for the new boat, got us up to 'pert near three-quarters full and about nine we cross back into the u.s. at the thousand islands crossing like we planned ("just planned yesterday" rather), the borderman very kind to us after a brief wait, us very grateful for the butter experience, just a few questions and then having to hold on for some but not forever... we're very glad/grateful. trippy seeing all these islands in the saint lawrence waterway - pads on these little islands, even garages for boats. crimony. the border place is actually on a island connect by two skinny one lane each way suspension bridges, bof like mini vincent thomas bridges from back in my pedro town, even painted green. I get us south on I-81 and at watertown I get us off for a piss stop and some coff (kidney filtered out/unfiltered for the time being in). near syracuse we turn west and get on the new york thruway. of course lots more traff which means lots more pedndejos risking everyone's life w/stupid shit stuff instead of being careful while drive. fuck that. we fuel up somewhere on a service area kind of south of rochester - again, I have no fuckin photos cuz of being a fuckin idiot but the lady who was a the pump in front was 'pert-near as bad - this clown leaves her vehicle and goes to another building instead of moving it beforehand, it's like it was scripted in a movie about self-absorbed massive bogarts - we gotta laugh! I chow the 'dines dave from c-level gave us back in cleveland... he did not cheap-out, this are pretty primo and taste good w/the "liquid summer" sauce I got back from colin in columbus. anyway, that's why you leave early, capito? to allow for stupid shit like this trying run (ruin?) your life. we ain't gonna let that happen - kind of like martial art thinking: "be like water" and not brittle, correct? I get mike to play the first album by the jam ("in the city") - I ain't this in years... it's the only album by them I liked but it's really good - d boon loved it. trippy hearing it again, I think of d boon big time getting into it - bof of us really into it... the wore funny little matching suits, great guitar sound, trippy words. whoa. somehow mike can get this stuff via his leash and maybe the internet? we get to marty's in hamburg just before two... not long after, I get us to to the venue (mohawk place on mohwak street downtown) at three - two hours before load-in... we're told there'd be a coned-off place for the new boat but maybe that's for then so we gotta park like a half block away in the meantime, the rain is pissing down and what do we see? some cat in tight little shirts and a body tshirt and booty-like tiny shoes - fucking how? the new boat temperature stuff says it fortyeight degrees fahrenheit out now - how the fuck can someone do that? crimony. now I've dug this show off beat cinema for years and believe it or not, miss hiyori has connected one of their principals, "bird" to come and spiel w/me. crimony, I shit thee not. one of the things I love about this is the connect w/this dealio where interesting trippy characters serve as hosts to these b-movie revival showings on tv - this goes back to when I first met d boon and we would watch this host "seymour" on local so cal tv every weekend night, 'pert-near religiously all through our early teens (early 1970s). we loved this big time. in fact, d boon painted a portrait of this seymour cat and it was the first time he used the name "d boon" - yeah, he got it from the band credits on the back of the second blue oyster cult album "tyranny and mutation" (e bloon, b dharma, etc...) but it was first used on this painting... damn, I wonder what happened to that? it was really good spieling w/bird and meeting him in person after seeing him on the show for so long - he hips me to the fact that this town (buffalo) got it's name not from the fucked up wrong name for bison but in fact comes from the french words "beau fleuve" meaning beautiful river - I'll buy that cuz he's a most convincing cat, truly - much respect to him! we have bof a good spiel and a good time.  I find happening parking, the culo of the new boat right on the hatch of the gigpad. mike finds happening tacos real close - he gets me kogi beef kind which is a korean version, yeah korean tacos, love it! some al pastor ones too w/pineapple, digging these also. crimony. I meet the cats in symphony hounds who are locals opening up tonight and are new band, very cool people - the bassman knows me from so cal and we talk about safari sam who had a couple clubs I go back w/to minutemen days... good to think about sam again, always very kind to me. I like this band, digging their soundcheck right after ours w/soundman stef who's sick w/fever but still working - he's got a mask... masks don't always have to be about covid19 (he told me he tested negative) but about trying not to get anyone sick w/anything, they've been using them in japan for years... so fucked some people have to use this issue as something to hurt people w/, really fucked up. same kind of mentality I feel on the roads w/asshole driving like assholes, same fucking thing. anyway... I go konk in the new boat cuz I'm beat, that was like eight and something hours of being at the wheel today, lots of it in the rain which, crimony, is coming down in buckets, buckets of cold rain. the new boat is dry and safe though and I konk hard. that trippy 'pert-near "magic" thing happens and I pop right before the nine and a half on-stage time... how the fuck does that happen? maybe it's the forty years of touring, 'pert-near seventy of them? I don't know but the rain's lighten up a little as I hobble into the gigpad through a side a hatch right by the stage. the buffalo gig-goers are way into it/supportive, crimony - you know I dig that and it makes all the beat-down 'pert-near go away and I bring all I can. we're challenged w/the kick drum booming away, hodge doing his best. I got fired up much by spieling w/bird earlier so I think that makes this gig a little different than all the rest on the tour. I really enjoy this show and it's trippy how no matter what the gigpad is this tour that this bergantino rig I'm using gets it done, I mean really. crimony. gear is gear and of course music is ninety-nine percent human and my book but it sure is happening to an rig like this to help one deliver the good time, know what I mean? or maybe I should say: feel what I mean? tonight's a good time, a real cool time tonight!  the skies stay dry for the load-out, thank you buffalo skies and thank you buffalo gig-goers - I get MUCH good word and spiel from my kind cats - one's got a wattplower bass for me to sign, yes, no prob, bassbrother! another cat tells me he put on the minutemen gig at buff state in 1984, crimony! I thank him VERY MUCH for that, remember it well... during our "double nickels on the dime" tour (actually the record came out AFTER the tour) - this cat is very emotional about remembering this - you know, stuff like this is about people... I mean the old days, it ain't just nostalgia crap but about people and their feelings - I very much get it and am touched by the sincerety... so glad I'm here to still be playing for them... AND them being here for me also, truly. I get help from a drummerman who takes great direction - he says his son says different but I got something to say about that to him! we get the new boat packed and head over to marty's (he was also working tonight's hatch as doorman) in nearby hamburg - the tv is on which is trippy for me cuz I never hear that stuff on tour... I'm most grateful its off after a few minutes. I've been here many times and the spirit here has always me - maybe it's susan's spirit, I miss her much. thank you marty so much for your kindness, truly. wednesday, october 12, 2023 - ithaca, ny from mike: Driving through the lakes Feeling very autumn now Bubba is ready Interesting load in And outdoor taco stand here Brian!, Chris, Anna Great opening sets helps me want to play better Love this scene - great folks from hodge: we stayed with bubba and mel. bubba’s band was really interesting alot of odd time signatures. drums guitar and bassoon. you gotta experience electric bassoon. very powerful and penetrating. the other group was a duo singer with keyboard samples and such and chris on drums and percussion sounds. he really had a vast assortment of sonics. from watt: pop at seven, don't know why cuz of all the tiredness but maybe cuz tour conditioning? my is not to reason why, mine is too stay healthy and play the best I can for mike, hodge and the gig-goers plus keeping everyone safe in the new boat... maybe that comes first AND THEN the playing stuff, huh? priorities are important. miss hiyori scrambles up eggs and puts pepper on them, I put those on a bagel she toasts... don't each much bread on tour - back home I chow bread (toast) only on sundays which is when I chow breakfast w/my sister melinda. the rain has stopped. marty's got work so he bails, asks me to sign his guest book - maybe his sixth one now? this man is so kind and generous, let me tell you people... incredible big heart, much love to him from me. cats like this are what the scene is about to me, truly. I chimp diary, get caught up especially w/the photos which can take a bit and also w/hodge's stuff, he's finally getting on board w/trying to catch up. mike says tomorrow he'll be trying also. I ain't trying to one-man the diaries, I swear but if I wait more than a day even, I fuckin forget fuckin everything, that's how focused I am on the day during tour: "the rises and the sun sets" - that's my basic unit of measure on tour. can't tell you how doing diary helps w/focus, can't tell you. of course it ain't for everyone and I would never force the issue on a single person ever but it really helps in my case and damn me for not doing this on the first minutemen tour forty years ago. well actually I tried - the europe part of 1983 black flag/minutemen tour, it's in this book but damn if I wasn't fuckin not that much together w/it, fucking stumblebum space-monitor. it wasn't 'til 1999 that I tried again and damn me for still blowing more clams at it then the cats buddy rich had to play w/on this later tour of his but w/chimping instead of bass. crimony. we pull anchor at one and shove for ithaca, about 160 miles but only some of it's on the new york thru way, the rest being on smaller roads cuz ithaca's in a pretty rural area - lots of western and upstate new york is like that - just like california is the country's biggest farm stage... people are fooled by these places' urban parts and get a skewed view - it's one of the happening things about touring, getting "bigger pictures" of stuff. one thing lame about tiny roads is getting an asshole driving behind you - use your imagination, why. fucking stress for fucking what? fucking ego. I let it go right now and leave it at that. the good news is we arrived alive - that's always good news, correct? I wish that also to everyone sharing the road w/us. ithaca is a college town (home of cornell) and has medical stuff also. I played here once before, opening for the meat puppets w/my jom & terry show but I hear that pad ("the haunt") got tore down. the only that stays the same is change, huh? our ride is peppered w/rain stuff but nothing like yesterday's downpour in buffalo. we're near the middle of their downtown and the bookstore the gig's kind of at is in a place where's there construction so there's stairs in the schlep making the shinecart kind of useless, oh well - we can do it. well, the more healthy of us four can while I do guardiano and then move the new boat around where it can dock legally - I find one just around the corner, yatta - only $1.50 for the amount I need on the meter 'til we're ok. econo. I plant myself here... mike arrives and from me seeing an indian chow pad on the way here, real close - he decides to chow us from there tonight. now my pedro town doesn't have india chow so I don't chow it much. when I do get the chance though (like in england), I love the pureed spinach that's got chunks of cheese in it along w/garlic nan bread... there's just something about these three things in my mouf that work like a symphony, the way the stuff comes together to make a fucking righteous thing in my mouf. I get going on some of it - crimony - then mike comes to get me for soundcheck. ok. we do that quick w/soundman corey and then I'm back in the new boat safely fast as I can to continue chowing that kind india chow, yes. lovin it. the gigboss is also in the first band (BRIAN!) and I think they're goin on while I'm chowin... damn me. anna oxygen + chris corsano are next though so I hurry as much as I can and be still safe. I stand right in front of chris' drum stuff and get the whole enchilada he brings.  anna's real good also, bof together is most bitchin and their set is like on tune that's in many places, really expressive and I dig it much. chris is inventive up the yang, love it. there's so much vocab while at the same time focused on expression and sharing w/his bandmate who's got electronic sounds to go w/her voice which is like a mind movie for me as well. all the parts of what anna and chris got going really aid and abet, love it big time - I am lit!!! I let them know. we're next and get ready for the nine pm go - hell, we got there together quick (soon as soundman corey can get the spiel mics going... it gets happening and the gig won't be instrumental, yatta! learning on the job is ok w/me, been doing my entire fuckin life and prolly will continue to. we're on the deck which can mean pretty good sound and it it's that way tonight here in ithaca plus the ithaca gig-goers are bringing it. I don't look much - I ain't looked much at the crowd this whole tour cuz of my eyes being mostly on mike and hodge. it works best for mssv I feel, just does. we use a lot of interplay, especially w/dynamics so it's key we get the ojos going. clams are blown but it ain't a big thing, kind of brings a special "ithaca version" to it, you know? the new tune "boat song" is prolly faster than we've done it a while cuz well, that's the way mike wants it... what I do is tap my feet to the count in he gives us and then try to play to that, keeping the feel musical cuz "automaton" mode ain't where it's at w/this group - same w/the man-alone-thing/see-you-at-the-finish-line trip, fuck that. we finish up and I thank the gig-goers and let them know joe bouchard (ended up on bass for the b.o.c. albums I really dig - the first five) went to school here, told me he used to borrow the string bass for gigs - always brought it back, never tried to kipe it cuz well, joe ain't that way. much respect to him, I learned stuff from his bass ways - truth be told. mostly I hear good stuff from the gig-goers as we pack up but one cat is belly-aching... well I ain't gonna let him make his problem my problem - that's a kind of repurposing of something I hear that really made good sense to me and damn if it don't apply here. mike protects me from some stuff and finally I get the stuff I can schlep (actually everything but the bass speakerbox) to the boat. I get to rap a little bit w/the drummer of the first band but not much - his guitarman's pad is where we're staying and I think had a lot to do w/this gig happening. I think the bassoon player tried to talk w/me also or he did but I was too busy packing up my stuff. man, I try my hardest to be as quick as I can but I also gotta be careful and not donate any stuff like a baka. I try my best, I swear - I ain't moseying, just trying to be thorough which means not donating any stuff like a baka. that sounds like a repeat cuz that's how serious I'm trying to be w/that - I'm happy to spiel once I get that stuff done. ok, don't wear that out by stressing it too much. the last thing I wanna be is rude to people who support, I ain't trying to be rude, I swear. so going out to the boat to bof bring my stuff and then bring it closer to help w/the load-out, this cat kevin talks w/me about stuff. I go slow but I'm going - I try to explain to him "atrophy" and how I have to use stuff that's not all shipshape but actually will get worse if I don't work it some. we talk about this sculpture by the new boat that's in front of a christian science reading room...  he says it got moved there and has nothing to do w/the religious place. it's a cat in a salaryman suit w/butterfly wings, trippy. we talk about roaming and roosting... I guess he's been in this town twenty years and I've been in my pedro town fiftysix years. I tour though so it's like I sally forth and the the bungee cord snaps me back when it's done so maybe we're a little different. maybe we're all a little different, just has to be... it's ok I think. mike comes w/a speakerbox and kevin I guess accidentally gets in the way, mike's lucky (he told me later - I couldn't see) and didn't fall and get run over. crimony. easy for us to get in each other's way even when we're trying to help - ain't that a trip? I get the new boat closer and we finish packing her, get out of the downtown and over to bubba and melisa's pad, very happening olde-timey place w/a good spirit. I'm beat and get into my nightwear and get on the air mattress once it's inflated. man, that india chow was good - still taste it in my mouf. crimony. thursday, october 13, 2023 - holyoke, ma from mike: Had great quiet sleep Bubba shows Shellshag drum head! Head to my homeland Columbian food! Jeremy, David and Chris! The great Flywheel crew New theatre space here AC off? Woah its sweaty Thanks Jeremy, wow! from hodge: this was with flywheel group they put on all kinds of shows. the venue was a brand new classic black box theatre. very clean very new. margaret smith of margaret and jeremy smith made a wonderful dinner for all the bands. we also stayed at there house that night. we have gotten to stay in some classic homes with the old school woodwork, stairs moldings around doors built-in cabinets. from watt: pop at seven and a half. I hose off... very inspirational spiel on the side of their shaua, yes! thank you bubba and melisa so much! shove off at eleven and a half, we got 290 miles to make - no bubba or melisa to thank (had to get to work - most kind/trusting like marty yesterday)... whoa, we start the drive off w/a quarter tank of fuel in the new boat - that's my signal to fill her up but maybe to get out of dodge some... I do get us over to a "speedway" to get a a fresh orange to peel and chow along w/some "hot" peanuts from that planters company. am digging the 'dines w/pickles ("hot" ones I got here econo) and "summer liquid" salsa which is 'pert-near gone now. damn. we got no-rain skies, it's chilly and full of clouds but no rain. lots of little roads - we do get on I-88 around oneonta where charley plymell's boy's a fireman - damn I wish we had time to visit charley in cherry valley town but we can't this time.  it's I-88 to I-90 at schenectady and the crossing the hudson river (also state border) into massachusetts about three. hodge soon calls for a piss stop when I play the medley I recorded w/j mascis + the fog for john peel back in 2000... speaking of which (regarding hearing stuff), mike found via his leash and the internet the essential logic album ("beat rhythm news, waddle you play?") us pedro punks in the late 70s were way into... haven't head that for a buttload of years and it's a trip to hear it again, crimony! I got HUGE respect for lora logic (a spiel w/her for "the guardian" here from last year) - man, is music a trip - so many connects on so many levels and stuff, huh? never gets old for me, never! I get us to holyoke at four and a half and then right in front of tonight's gigpad holyoke media, right next to the court house. whew, a relief to drop anchor know we have arrived alive.  the weather here is right now righteous, like in my pedro town w/all the rain gone and mildness mixed w/the sun in it's last dance for the day. I go by myself to explore and get some alone time... when I get back mike brings me a plato of this chow from a columbia chow pad I found while I was hobbling around the high street (like england, the "high street") and hipped him to it. fuckin great chow, wow! there's steak (a couple of slices, very thin cut) - when's the last I chowed that? avocado, arroz, trippy tasting sausage, happening beans in it's own bowl/broth - even a fried egg! crimony. good thing I got the hashi to keep from shoveling it all down too quick, huh? I bail from the new boat to join mike and hodge to do the soundcheck w/soundman scott - this pad's brand new, smells like a new car - I shit thee not. the padboss johan is from mexico and very cool people. he's got plans for this pad to be a real expression place for the community - I'm way into that and wish much suerte w/it, love cats w/this kind of spirit, love it. I guess holyoke used to be called "paper town" cuz of a prior incarnation but that don't mean it can't keep on keepin on and maybe in a healthier incarnation? so glad the flywheel got a connect w/it here, so glad. I meet the cats in the two openers vex party and sky furrows - all very nice people and so glad to share tonight's bill w/them - in fact, I'm in a proj w/one of the sky furrows people, karen schoemer - it's called jaded azurites and we just had our sixth release come out last week. we do this proj by trading files on the internet - you can use the internet for doing more than just spreading hate and lies, correct? actually I got into this "trading files" thing in the 80s sending cassettes of four track recordings through snail mail to do our first dos stuff - like black humor said: "the only thing new is YOU, finding out about it!" damn straight. crimony. I go back to the new boat and konk and I mean konk... HARD! how hard a konk was that I had? three fuckin hours worth, that's how much! crimony. I think it might've been that columbian chow cuz it was prolly the heaviest chow I had on the tour - good thing I didn't most the arroz (rice - did the same thing w/last night's india chow... for some reason it came w/rice and I only chowed a little of it). anyway, maybe my body needed the konk cuz of konk deficit or maybe it was a combination of the two... whatever, I missed bof openers - popping just in time for our ten of ten go time. damn me cuz I really wanted to see bof, ah shit! kind of mad at myself but what can I do? I can play good for bof of those groups AND the holyoke gig-goers tonight. will do or prolly better said: will try. we bring a set not w/out clams but one I enjoy much. speaking of much, there's much respect and focus from the holyoke gig-goers, MUCH respect to them, truly. they allow us to get as tiny as possible w/out yammering and then take it when we bring the LOUD, they cut us NO SHORTS, real respect for them, truly. lots of gigs this tour gig-goers have been kind this way or at least part of them... I think they realize this is part of our vocab, a way mssv brings it's expression as much as a different beat or a different note - it's all vocab to help us bring our "story" for a lack of me maybe not finding good enough words to get it correct. like I said, there were clams but the found a way to be dealt w/out us losing "the plot" or "the thread" or maybe even more accurate "the drama" - fuck, I keep searching for spiel technique, fucking forever search for such shit! I keep trying... 'pert-near everyone let's me pack up... of course theres some ONE who mike has to advise - so glad he's there to do that and gigboss scott helps him help me - crimony, it's just a few minutes to get shit stowed correct so it don't get donated... I like to do it from the chair I do the gig in too so that way I have less a chance of hitting the deck - taking a tumble in my sitch is like one of the worse things that can happen to me so I really think about where I'm at as much as I can to head shit like that off. of course I gotta explain even to gigboss scott (one of the gigbosses cuz remember, flywheelarts.org is a collective) that my speakerbox not only helps bring bass sound but also doubles as a walker to help keep me safe and that's why unenlightened "helper whatevers" pulling on it really fucks things up for me. yes, I appreciate getting help when the casters get stuck in a crack or there's a door jamb I gotta get it over but fucking yanking my like I'm a caboose for their choochoo train is really fucking baka and I think they'd realize that if they put themselves in my shoes. the "empathy thing" is really lacking amongst us humans, I feel - maybe watt too lets himself down in this same area so I'm trying harder to not just think "ME" all the fucking time. ok, I spouted enough about that. time to say how thankful I am for sincere kindness shown to me and the group I just played w/... hey, mb jones is here! I think he's from around these parts, so good to see him... been playing his music on my show a good long time and hope to play more - he keeps it coming and that's a good thing! gigboss scott takes great direction from me stowing the speakerbox into the new boat, I thank him much. all the flywheelarts.org cats are most bitchin - jeremy's one who has aboard his pad not too far away, along w/margaret, very righteous people. oh, there were some real nice people at my window when I was seatbelted in after stowing my bass stuff - one was carolyn who made a hellride from hudson valley - several people talk to me from that area, maybe sky furrows fans? everyone most kind, truly. back to jeremy and margaret's pad (from 1905, crimony!), I hose off and get in my nightwear, they let us do laundry, yes! most kind. I konk in their front room, great spirit here. friday, october 13, 2023 - cambridge, ma from mike: Gluten free oat bites And coffee, I load up here Very good sleeping Watt finds best parking I fall from stage load - I'm fine! More outdoor tacos Ava kills as opener Peter too of course: Minibeast Chris' dogs are wild! from hodge:  max was our sound man and did a great job. when we came out of the venue there was a line of youth as far as the eye can see, all dressed in black. apparently the midnight disco dance scene is going strong. ava opened the show she does a solo guitar music, she sings some, very wonderful and uniquely personal approach to her music, this is the second time we had been able to work with her. the second band had to me a tribal thing going on. lotta tom toms and sounded to me like the vocal was a made up language or sounds. real steady basslines and primal econo guitar and keyboard sounds. some sound samples too. we stayed with chris burns in west roxbury, mass. man he made us an amazing breakfast. cut up a rainbow of fruits watermelon, pineapple, blueberries, cantaloupe. then there were eggs sausage and really great strong coffee. he made the eggs into and cheese tortilla pie/quesadilla. culinary art!!!!and boom 9am we are off. from watt: pop at seven. get caught up on email, I need to... I don't get it on a leash - I get via 'puter - I ain't against email and actually dig but I wanna be one getting it and not yank me by the neck whenever/however - fuck, I'd get nothing done! crimony. now, there's some disadvantages - for example, j wanted to see mssv last night (he ain't too far away in amherst) but I didn't get the email last night so, oh well. love they got an open dictionary here on a stand like some might have a bible... learn a random new word a day, huh? I get to talking to jeremy about stuff, he works at a library. we have a good spiel about all kinds of stuff, starting sort w/the new boat and why I'm sticking w/ford when the guy who started the company was a fuckhead, for example him printing up the czar's bullshit "protocols of the elders of zion" and all kinds of duplicity in choices we might or do make, where "the line" gets drawn. he's very easy going and I like him. I chimp diary... oh yeah, I get to talk about "chimp" as a verb w/margaret, I tell about me using this idea of "if you had a bunch of chimpanzees in a room banging on typewriters, statistically maybe they'd type out all the works of shakespeare" and I am silly to have that lead to the authorship question and that "c word" and then into the quicksand w/the more you struggle, the more you strangle... I'm gonna still use "chimp" for "writing diary" though, no disrespect intended, I swear. so very kind, margaret and jeremy, I hope the best for them - if the house is haunted, oh yeah, miss hiyori said she heard about that and got presented w/some "found objects" - actually I didn't understand but I want nothing but good stuff for margaret and jeremy and this pad. this is something I've learned from having kindness being shown to me from forty years of touring and am always most grateful for it: most kind people, truly. I hope I get to play again for jeremy's flywheel arts collective. man, it took me a while - thurst told me about it for years... I can be a slow learner, truly.  we pull anchor at one (I only have to wheel 160 miles today) and get on the ritchie blackmore road (mass pike) east towards boston. we talk about that "c word" some, about the meaning of "loaded" words, period - mike's got some interesting insights... then (changing the topic?), mike said someone last night spotted the coat he got in toronto as one that "zips up the wrong way" - can you believe that shit? some real fucked up driving getting across the charles river - real rude shit but we survive, in fact "arrive alive" in front of "tt the bears" - no, that's gone it's called "sonia" now but it used to be tt's and I played buttloads of gigs there, in fact one of my first opera ones was where I got my first anchor necklace from an unknown gig-goers, just this hand holding it while I was schlepping a bass speaker cabinet (I could do such a thing then, like the late 90s). where we're actually playing is the upstairs part of the middle east but parking here at the end of the block (so lucky to find parking here!) means no one will block us in, capito? weather is a little cold and there's clouds above but no rain. mike goes to forage for tacos... hodge says he's gonna stroll. I chimp diary. jim and holly from bergantino get here to say hi, so happening! we get to talk about amps, speakerboxes, tour, and... the new boat! most happening time, really interesting stuff and also I get to report on the thirtysix gigs I've used the forte hp and nxt 212 this tour. they've seen photos - they're intrigued by the switch-out I've done w/the knobs - jim says he thought is was some kind of retouching of the photos! I show him the actual baby! easier for watt and his not-so-happening eyes when working a gig. all my stuff share the same color code so I know where "gain" is despite the device... it's the green knob! "white's" the gain and so on. at home I got stuff I use for recording and this helps big time but also w/gigs. jim likes the casters I've put on - not just for schlepping but also to "de-couple" the box from the deck for a tighter bottom. holly takes a photo of us once mike gets the speakerbox on stage:  (I find out later that mike fell getting this up on stage, crimony! that suspected hernia he thought he had at the tour's start turned out to be not that but hopefully this doesn't now make that a reality...) so glad jim and holly made time for me, so glad... I wish them the best. john and jeff come by right after, when it's time for soundcheck w/soundman max. they got a box from sound design called a "zio" they want me try and in fact want me to compare what I'm using now to feed jim's amp... I have a little boat w/tuner (polytune3), high pass filter (broughton, compressor (earthquaker "the wardern") and tube di (sushi box fx "finally", di part is only for plan b), I use the zio box in place for the one song we do for the soundcheck and then I tell them I'll use it for tonight's set cuz it's better to test like that: real world test which for watt is a full-on gig, capito? another holly arrives - this one my old friend hol who's been to my gigs for years. she got her daguhter lily graduating from mit in february, I'm so proud of her. also here is her sister ruby and brother aiden - hol' got all her kinds w/her and lily's friend ed. we chow at the front part of this gigpad, holly gets me a falafel salad which is so good. crimony. we ain't had a chance in quite a while so we have a big spiel about all kinds of stuff. it's good to catch up, truly. ruby trips me out kind of by saying she chows no vegetables - what? hol wants me to tell her how I cook, the saute way I usually do. I mean lily says she don't even like onions! crimony. oh - they (aiden joins in) do say they like garlic, that's happening. I inform them on the basic plan I use for 'pert-near all my chow... lilly says she don't like celery, she don't dig zucchini - what?! cazzo! hol says as they get older, they're gonna get more into vegetables... trippy about kids, they just go their own lives - of course! me and hol agree you can give advice but they're the shot-callers in their own lives, so be it... we were there, correct? crimony.  I go to the boat to konk and there's a huge line w/people dressed all in black mostly, kind of goth - I'm wondering what the music's like? it's the downstairs part of this gigpad where they're going, glad for the support cuz I love live music pads and people supporting by coming to gigs. I konk real hard in the boat - again I miss bof openers minibeast and ava mendoza but what can I do? I gotta play good for mike, hodge and the gig-goers if a decision between the two trips presents itself, I gotta go w/the mssv aki tour 2023 priorities which means keep them safe and doing the best gigs I can for it. I dig get a shot of ava at soundcheck:  she says tomorrow she'll join mssv for the encore, yatta! she also hips me to her new proj w/bassbrother devin, MUCH respect! mike rousts me w/seven minutes ahead of the 10:50 go time... I hobble past the big line, people are most kind to let me by... I get into where we play and hook up the zio box in place of my little board mike set up... let's see how this thing does a gig... we bring the "b set" (remember we alternate sets every night, the one consistent thing being we do every "human reaction" tune every night) and it's kind of like what I've been using but in lots of ways it ain't, doesn't seem as responsive to my dynamics although it's not like a total "body condom" type of trip. anyway, the main point of the gig is for the cambridge gig-goers and they're most happening, very kind and supportive - no yammering and damn if we don't get tiny enough to ROAR over us if the wished to do that but they don't - showing respect like deserves MUCH respect from me, MUCH, truly. the "color" switch has a grind that's not as like the "squeezing the toothpaste tube" I can finesse out of the sushi box fx I use - well, I actually use it w/jim's "big fat tube" (set at about 50%) - it's all the way down no cuz we're testing out the zio box to hear what it brings itself... some clams are blown but overall the band I think does good and I enjoy the gig much, very much. thank you good people here tonight in canbridge.   hol and her family help get my speakerbox off the stage and into walker mode once I get everything packed up from my chair. the one advantage for me w/not being on the deck is it harder for people to bumrush the sitch... I'm getting quicker at this - more prac w/it will help... their friend ed helps from the front of the speakerbox over the cracks in sidewalk, takes great direction getting it loaded into the new boat, thank you much eduardo! ...look who's here: brother joe de and mark "slick" - too old buddies from warren, rhode island - so good, SO GOOD to see them again. man, I wish I was konking w/them tonight so we could spiel all night like in the old days. joe says he's gonna visit pedro and I can't wait to give him "the tour" of the place, can't wait! photoman tim bugbee's here too, great to see him again. of course peter from minibeats - he's in rhode island now. I tell him about the time I got to play "the red and the black" w/the now-days b.o.c. cuz what's he wearing? a blue oyster cult tshirt, crimony! man, so many kind people, so much good will. it's really an emotional night for me, really is. hard to pull anchor but I gotta - we got a hellride tomorrow and it's late - late for watt these days that is. bye bye everyone... w/mike's help navigating, I get us over to west roxbury and to chris, brother of scott (he's in louisville, ky) and a great cat. there's some drama though cuz he's moved not far from where he used to be but that's enough to have us confused and he's got these two young hounds that are VERY nervous... you gotta be careful these days - people getting shot cuz they go to the wrong address or something like that, real sad. we do finally get up and into chris' new pad (new to him) and it's happening, really is. the two young hounds are beautiful and calm down once they get used to us invading their world... they are full of love. it's two in the morning and I am fucking tuckered. so glad I got that konk earlier, I really am. being worn out letting the freak flag fly via music I think is a good thing. I'm really grateful to brother chris for having us aboard... into the nightwear, I konk thinking about all the people who've helped me, it's buttloads... I owe them all buttloads... damn if I don't need to work harder at bass... I promise I will, I promise... saturday, october 14, 2023 - philadelphia, pa from mike: Thanks Chris: breakfast spread! 4 near misses in traff, wow We make it safe though Watt is safe driver So important, very much We load, taco time Ava kills again And joins us finally to play! We head to Timmy's! from hodge:  from watt: pop at seven... chris soon cooks up some happening personal variation on the quesadilla trip which is real good eating for watt, can't thank him enough. his dogs are very nervous but packed w/love and I'm digging that much... you know as such short-term guests/invaders into their world, actually I think they're pretty generous w/their affection and that's why I never say "no" to them or try to act "authoritative" w/them - I really don't feel right about that. I wish I had more time to rap w/chris, very interesting cat - like his brother in louisville, ky (lieutenant scott) but NOT the same cuz they're their own cats BUT for watt each are most bitchin to rap w/... washed outfit for watt, (same levis and tour shirt, just de-soiled) - I feel really kurei ('clean' in japanese). shove off at nine... quarter tank - mandatory for me to observe as GET GAS NOW cue cuz of previous experiences over the forty years plus of gigs - pull over so mike can use one of those "shell" cards you know where (maybe a "shell" station?) about fifteen minutes after pulling anchor from chris' - $3.45/gallon. back whence we came, I get us west on the ritchie blackmore road (bye bye massachusetts!) to I-84 to start our connecticut part of the journey (transit only, sorry no gig here this tour but dig the state like I do the other fortynine) toward to their capitol hartford and then onto "parkway world" - leaving the interstate for roads where trucks can't go. mike knows this route cuz he's from west mass and this is how he got to new york city: via the parkways (he called them "speedways" cuz of pendejo behavior you have to "share" w/yeah, fucking pendejos)... first the merritt - eleven and then twenty and it's time for the two-hour-stop-trip, correct? yeah but the tiny gas station in waterford - we don't have to take on liquid (gas), we need to drop off (piss: watt, shit: mike/hodge) is a no-go, (like most pads in urban so cal) so I use the bottle I got specifically for the new boat way back in quanah, tx (remember? it held apple juice and has a good wide mouf for pissing in), good as new for the job it has to do. it's emptiness needs filling, I feel and oblige. I feel for mike/hodge though... ten minutes further down the parkway by north haven is a "service areas" - maybe that's not what it's called but for these gentlemen, it definitely describes its function. the weather now is more gray then all the sun that said bye to us at chris pad in west roxbury but at least no rain... that was for five minutes and then it starts coming down... the further we go, the more it comes on - this is a soaker. crimony. does that mean people drive safe cuz of more wack road conditions? for some pendejos: FUCK NO! they risk everyone's lives even more w/their selfish bullshit. I don't wanna puke now just thinking about some insane shit went down on today's drive, really uncalled for and lame. ok, end of venting/sermon. more parkwasy: hutchinson once we cross into new york state (twenty after one) and then cross country 'til we take the george washington bridge (lower level) into new jersey, getting on the new jersey turnpike south... ten of two I pull us over at the "vince lombardi service area" for a piss stop - again for them while I use that bottle, fuck hobbling around in this downpour w/my sitch. the driving if fucking really bad, twice idiots come into our lane and 'pert-near hit us. many are driving w/windshield wipers (cuz of the rain) but no lights. crimony. oh, mike hips to the fact that there was no band playing under us last night in cambridge... instead, that line we saw was for "goth dance night" or whatever it was cold - that's why all the black and some w/halloween makeup on. I guess whatever music they heard was from records. a little bit of delaware (they get their tithe) and then into pennsylvania, it the south part of town, not too far from the river. this lady comes out of an intersection running a stop sign and when I use the horn, mike says he's sees her middle finger come up - like it's our fault! well, another reason I got a buffer going fore and aft (though it's hard to keep the after one cuz fucking stupidfucks wanting to eat your bumper)... helps w/heart attack moments like that. quarter after four I get us to the venue - it's called solar myth now but four years ago during the dick watt tour it was called "the boot and saddle" - the sign out front still says that, crimony! there's a bar part up front and a "band room" in the back is what I remember but I don't go in when we get there and instead park the new boat as possible. that rain ain't heavy but it keeps up. that china chow pad on the corner next to the gigpad is still there and I again like four years ago I get wonton soup, I really like it. came crunchy noodles too, they tasted good soaked in the soup. I wanna stay in the new boat once I get back so I have mike do soundcheck w/out me. hard to believe but a spot opens up right in front of the china chow pad after this cat dump this huge sack of trash in a trash can and then bails... whatever that's about but I get the closest we could to the gigpad patch w/out risk of getting boxed in, big time yatta! relieved w/the parking thing, I slip into a konk... it was a seven hour drive in mostly rain and that used up a lot in me - I gotta save what's left for the gig-goers so soon I'm out. fuck, I miss the opener which is ava mendoza - she was second on the bill last night. mike rousts me w/like three minutes to go and go I do, ready to bring it. turns out eva's gonna do the first tune w/us, yatta! we bring the set and eva and mike bof on guitar is a great thing to be part of - this version of "baby ghost (from the 1900s)" is really a trip, first she on swells and then dueling it out w/mike, only wish her amp was bigger, oh well. our set goes good but I'm a little preoccupied cuz I'm having to readjust the amp from last night - guess I was doing more than I thought w/the forte hp to make that zio pedal those cats for sound design had me try... there's something about that, huh? anyway, playing for the phily gig-goers is inspiring and helps me get over any hardware stuff which I'm most grateful for, truly. timmy helps me get my speakerbox on the deck once I get packed up when we're done - we're konking at his pad in delaware so that's another thing to be grateful for. he takes direction good and let's me use the speakerbox serve as a walker (only one reason for me putting on the casters - they also decouple the box from the deck, jim was way into that when we talked about it yesterday) and also gets it packed right in the new boat. he goes on ahead of us to get his pad ready. I get the good word from more gig-goers while strapped in the driver seat. we're lucky and the rain lets up some. all packed up, suddenly we leave and we're south about on our way timmy's... the rain returns a little and so does some fucked-up driving - one clown in big plumbing truck w/out lights on (it's like eleven pm now) 'pert-near clips us off, swinging into our lane, I see it like a motherfucking shadow just missing the new boat's bow. crimony. we get to wilminghton in delaware and soon we're at timmy's - he waves us in. his boy leland's prolly freaked out some by this "invasion" into his tv-quiet saturday night, so sorry leland. timmy's so very hospitable, it really is beautiful. the room he's got for the air mattress is a little too small (find they out AFTER inflating it but can get it out turning it sideways) so I switch out w/hodge, no prob. yeah, all that hellride wore me out kind of total so quick into the nightwear and 'pert-near just like that out into konk, thanks so much, timmy... all these years we've known each other - no ferret this but a beautiful dog. ok, I'm out... sunday, october 15, 2023 - new york city, ny from mike: I pass on "cracklin'" But I do make key fob box No more misfires now! Sunday NYC Good day for gig, easy park And early show too! Shellshag is so fun! I see Alec and Andy! New Shellshag, wow! from hodge:   from watt: pop just after seven... sun out the window coming in. good konk, not too cold and not too hot - goldilocks place. I get word out about tonight's gig and then chimp diary 'til timmy's up. I hip him to prolly the father of the port of los angeles phineas banning cuz of the fact of here we are in wilmington, de which in fact was his hometown and prolly why he named the southern california town after that. these days bof wilmington and my pedro town are bof politically part of los angleles w/wilmas (nickname for it) being the north part of the harbor and san pedro being the west side... long beach is the east side but they're their own city. I'm proud I got that kind of connect w/timmy and so glad to give him that news. he's been coming to my gigs buttloads of years, incredible watt supporter. him and wife alison cook me up three fried eggs w/some bacon and I really like it, they're so kind. he talks guitars w/mike while I chimp diary. we pull anchor at ten cuz it's an early show tonight for us in new york city. bye bye to timmy and alison:  we get gas about ten minutes from their pad at an "exxon" station for $3.00/gallon. crimony, good fuckin price. four states to pass through today for the 130 miles we need to cover, first of course from delaware (need to get fleeced first for going over the stereo bridges), north on I-95 which is also the new jersey turnpike when we get into new jersey and go all the way to newark where we take the holland tunnel under the hudson river and over the border into new york and manhattan - I'm making it seem just like that but actually the trip took four and a half hours which is about thirty miles an hour averaged (mainly from newark to and through manhattan). crimony. oh, on the way I get mike to find and play via the internet and his leash the first release from esg and then the third public image album - it really surprises me he's heard nothing about either of them (I actually saw esg open for public image when they toured that album) but he's way into hearing it now. this was from the days when I knew 'pert-near every record from the movement coming out, from the late 70s to the early 80s - a very VERY influential time for me that way. listening to this stuff now is not sentimental I think cuz it still is happening of a music level for me, even w/my history connected w/it I can honestly say I dig it for what it is and not cuz of some lame-ass potsie/fonzie "happy days" kind of bullshit. I know what that feels like - something like... whatever - I don't wanna get into it. anyway I ain't heard this stuff in a buttload of years and it's a trip how econo it is, I really dig that part - the way NOT filling up all the space w/stuff and stuff works... really happening for me. ok, some fucking really crazy driving shit to survive through and get us (fucking why? but whatever) to the mercury lounge ten minutes late for the two and a half load-in but we work fast and make that up. weather is like my pedro town, rare for here - that storm from last night blew out good. I have to do some loops but come up w/a parking space to fit the new boat a couple blocks away, first avenue and east first street - "peretz square" is where it's next too which is a trip cuz that's per's name too, I think of all the stuff that man has taught me... prolly wouldn't have done my first opera w/out the influence of helping him w/that porno for pyros stuff in the mid 90s, I shit thee not... very insightful cat. you know, when he teaches you a song, he tells you the story so that inspired me to tell my story of being a w/d boon, of us being minutemen and also about being my pop's boy. trippy. the line at "katz's" is way too long so I get a slice (of peetz) a block east on my way to the gigpad to do soundcheck. soundman garrit is way cool people and it's most happening to have him as our fourth man - I saw shell and jen on the way in, shellshag are the openers for us, yatta! so good to see them again and happening we can share the stage w/them here. we do our one song soundcheck - noisy d.i. is cured by using the lift and then unplugging and replugging the mic line to the house, yatta! I go back to the boat and see two ladies kind of walking w/each other but one in front of the other, each w/two leashes each and somehow working them while walking... crimony. I konk hard. mike rousts me just before gig time (six and a half!)... I konked past shellshag, damn me. I hobble to the gigpad and no prob getting in and to the stage, everyone helpful. we bring the gig a though I wish we could've brought nyc set 'a' I think now it's ok that set 'b' is what they got and we had a good time w/it. I fucked up "equinox" again though, gotta get on that. fuck have I done it a buttload of times w/the original recording but that goes to show you, correct? crimony. why am I already at the end of the set when the beginning was really trippy on me cuz of the focus of the new york city gig-goers, like every ear and very eye really wanted to be there and wanted to be part of this gig. I really felt the band owed them all we could bring. it was trippy but it was sincere and man, in a way it was way relaxed - I think one of my most relaxed new york city gigs ever, I really felt safe w/the gig-goers here tonight, really did. I also felt a commitment to them, one that wasn't just about watt but about this music I was part of - w/mike and hodge, part of that w/the gig-goers to make a gig, yeah make a gig together. trippy now for me to process exactly now cuz I think I was part of it so much but then there in that chair - have I ever sat for a gig in new york city? I've been in a chair thirtyeight times this tour now... whoa... however, there was me not having "equinox" together at the end... crimony!  kat from three rooms press says hi soon as I'm done packing, very kind of her. a cat from a band called platypus revenge raps w/me about what the do in that band - kind of like roger miller putting music to silent movies I ask him and he tells me it's different. ok, gotta find out - he put his cd in my back wack sack. I get the good word from many kind people, many. very kind of everyone, really, very kind. davis schlachter of end of hope and his wife accompany me to the new boat which is most happening cuz they're bof bitchin to rap w/but also to keep my crippled ass safe, capito? can't wait to hear davis' new music, says he's got it coming soon! it'll be great to have him on the show again to play and rap about it, can't wait. I get the new boat in front of the gigpad of course after some stupid fucking traff drama but I am calm like cucumber and get it for the most happening quick schlep and load work from mike/hodge/miss hiyori - crimony can they work good as a team doing what needs to get done, I am fuckin way most grateful, truly. beautiful. strapped in behind the new boat's steering wheel w/the window wound down to receive/spiel, pierre brings me a bottle of hydrogen peroxide, how very kind of him cuz this heads of infections in my ears (I pour it each, let it boil and then let it drain out) and my throat/mouf (gargle and spit), good shit for me. his drummerman friend chris is cool people also - pierre got a proj going where he's having me doing bass w/drum tracks he sends to me via the internet. there's a cat named vish in canada doing the same exact thing except he's the only drummer - ain't that a trip? the internet CAN be used for something besides spreading lies and hate, huh? we can collab create some art, fuck yeah! we're konking w/shel and jen of shellshag at where the live now in clifton over in new jersey. of course it's "mr toad's wild ride" getting there via the fdr express way and the george washington bridge - we find out later from shell there was a ny jets football game but man, the fucking crazy risky shit - mike's giving me directs while I'm doing my best to keep us safe, big time on the mirrors... so glad the new boat handles pretty good - I would say better than bof econolines I had. I drive the speed limit - it might sound like I'm doing a "frightened grandpa" thing and sure that's as dangerous as doing the shit these pendejos are doing - I'm doing the posted shit especially since I got california plates. crimony. nobody who cares about other people deserves this shit, it's fucked up. we get to jen and shel's pad and it's real calm. good talking w/them again - different than their pad in brooklyn but way happening. catch up w/shel, then he has me do a big soak - my first big soak of the tour, a big long hot one w/dr bronner's peppermint soap in it. whoa, this is something, really is. I konk good right after, thank you big time shel and jen, truly. monday, october 16, 2023 - baltimore, md from mike: Good talk with Shell/Shag Head back to the South today Easy parking here Ms Hiyori trips Gotta keep the injuries down! We get back on track Enjoyed openers much! Need more ojos and quiet Band talk, then couch sleep from hodge:  from watt: pop at seven - what's w/that number in regards to me popping?! crimony. first time to use the drip coff maker miss hiyori recently got in cambrige... using coff actually from the flagstaff gig was at the beginning of this second tour leg - real crimony! works great, alright. I was gonna wait for jen to cook up breakfast but found two tacos I didn't chow in the new boat - one good thing about the weather getting cooler - chow lasts longer! we're do for load-in at three and there's two hundred miles to cover so at ten we shove off from jen and shel's - so beautiful of them how kind they are to us... I just can't wait to see them again - by bye jen and shel! I get us on the new jersey turnpike going south, the weather pretty good. twenty of noon I get us off at the "walt whitman" whatever area for a piss stop and use the bottle while everyone else fouls the official facilities... I got enough time to also chow a can of "king oscar" 'dines and was it down w/a dose of psyllium husks that get all over me - need to get a better way to get that happening. I clean up and get boat shipshape before everyone gets back and a half hour later get us out of new jersey and into delaware. peter distefano calls us, mike had invited him to play a tune w/us on the tour's last gig but damn if peter's got a gig in sarasota, fl that day and can't do it. good to hear from peter, miss his voice - me and him have been reading about all kind of music cats, especially john coltrane - when I chimp here READING, I really mean it: me and peter reading aloud! crimony. love him much and can't wait to get to our next book, just finished charlie mingus' autobiography. for some reason, I think of the stranglers and ask mike if he can find their third album "black and white" and damn he does just that, via his leash. this one's from 1978, again mike ain't heard this kind of punk - trippy stuff I've turned him on to this last week, huh? he says it's like hearing lemon kittens last tour... glad to oblige! I get us over the mason-dixon line just before two, pull the new boat over at a "shell" station off a then-plugged I-95 so mike can use up more of his "shell" cards ($4.50/gallon) and to give the rest of us a piss break. of course I use the bottle. the real drama starts when we go south some on a state road to bypass the interstate plug and when that's cleared, get in a lane to get back on I-95 south when this real aggressive asshole whips around the corner and onto the shoulder and is angry we're in the way of his bumrush and toots his fuckin horn but I got someone in the lane next to me so how I can even make his illegal bullshit happen? I can't so I lay on my horn and I guess he sees the light and relents, hallelujah... I mean this was really fucked up. there was another fucking weird thing earlier on our drive on the open highway (two fucking huge trucks doing it too, one w/liquid petroleum gas "drafting" another 'pert-near sideswiping us and another) but this was fucking big time terrible bullshit, this pendejo should really be ashamed and fuckin for what? we all just wanna arrive alive and I wasn't going to slow or dawdling. it's fucking disgusting, this kind of spoiled baby shit. I don't know what it's w/people and there egos, compensating for whatever tiny shit about their body or whatever (mind also maybe?) but I get to feeling like how long will my luck hold out. I'm driving defensive as possible too, eyes on the mirrors big time - ok, I'll try more - try more to stay out these pendejos' way and hopefully keep everyone onboard the new boat safe. crimony. ok, I drop anchor at the ottobar in the charles village part of baltimore twenty of three, using a few parking places before finding the kind right where we need cuz we're konking here tonight also. soundlady natasha's training new recruit matt but it's no prob, take your time - life is about more than your shift... it's about the one after and the one before also. mike gets us some tacos, many thanks. I meet one of the openers mowder oyal while they're getting ready for the check and they got a bassoon player (like BRIAN! in ithaca!) so we get to talking to that instrument relation mr gaudi's sagrada familia and the angels rocking the bassoon there. also the guitarman knows about the marble bar where I did my first bal'mor gig as a minutemen in 1983, opening for black flag. I am really beat and have to get the new boat and konk, that crazy shit on the road wore me out. crimony. mike rousts me minutes before our nine pm go time - damn me, I missed bof overcalc and those mowder oyal cats, arrggghhh... well, I got only so much gas. even more disappointing is me not especially enjoying this set - I ain't blaming the baltimore gig-goers cuz they're most happening and actually gave me a bar to aim for cuz on stage I just was feeling a connect, kind of just doing parts in some ways but maybe that's just my reflection on it now... this point in a tour can be tough, kind of threats of "horse latitudes" stuff, I think you gotta reach down or better WE gotta reach down cuz we're a band - yeah, a band made of the three cats but that's a band first. maybe I got "equinox" better but I wanna try harder for the last third of this tour - yeah, the tour's a third done. I will say I liked "junk haiku" a lot better than it's been. I don't wanna sound overly kvetched-out, please know that. so glad to be w/mike and hodge doing mike's music, really I am. I wanna do better for bof. I pack up and then a helperman at pad helps me down - I get the good word from mowder oyal drummerman bashi, whoa... much respect to him... this touches me deeply and I thank him most sincerely, w/my heart truly. I go out and thank bal'mor gig-goers for being there for us... I see timmy - he came to this gig too, w/his buddy strider. and here's chris delaware, wow! been a while since I've seen this drummerman, wow! he has a bass now also (he's a drummerman) and has me sign it. whoa. he loves steve reed and I'm so happy to tell him me and brother steve have a two-man-proj called _steel sense_ that we're getting together, we got some plans. big hugs for chris delaware... can't wait to tell brother steve I saw him again. we keep the stuff here on stage for load-out tomorrow morning. I go upstairs where we'll konk and am upset miss hiyori has hurt an ankle on one of these stairs here, oh no... she won't get off it either, wants to keep working like kiiroi tori. crimony. please miss hiyori, be good to yourself, please... you need to heal. crimony. tuesday, october 17, 2023 - richmond, va from mike: Coffee pod scene here Not ideal, but I persevere We get through DC I walk for health bowls Instead of tacos today Quick stop for new belt Destructo Disk - wow! Good scene happening down here Great gig, then Kyle's pets! from hodge:   from watt:  pop at seven and look out the window... the new boat's still where I left it. had to take two pisses during the night and checked the window each time... was kind of worried.  I record bass for the final track (for me) for the third round of the elka bong proj I'm part of w/orig members al margolis and walter wright - acutally, they call it w/me "bong watt" - here's round I and here's round II and what I did for the next round here in bal'mor (I did the rest of my stuff for it in pedro at my _studio tHUNDERpANTS_ which is one room of my apartment right before this current mssv tour began) was plugging my wattplower bass into that bitmap 2 box red panda designer man curt gave me back in hamtramck earlier the tour (also the site where the new boat took that side-blow on the port bulkhead) and then into an econo audio interface and into my macbook air, using free/open-source audacity to make that happen on the software end... brother al had supplied his track and so I just improvised to that. I then set him my resulting wav file. these days doing collabs remote is really easy, I'm way into it! also love making music w/al and walter, love it.  we do the load-out and tetris-pack the new boat, able to shove off at ten. only 160 miles to cover but lots are on I-95 and man, has that become a parking lot... adding lanes don't do shit either, just ends up adding more pipe to suck on. crimony. from the streets of bal'mor to the interstate, mike gives us pep talk about this stage of the tour and it's real good one regarding not getting lax and doing the gigs on auto-pilot/coloring-book/phone-it-in fucking bullshit mode, time to dig down deep and pull the stuff up by the short and curlies and bring it - I'm way into it. hodge says he is too, real good.  we're going east of the country's capitol via I-495 south and get a good view of the washington masonic memorial out the starboard side but damn if this "camera" I got back in indiana a real piece-o... I know "a poor carpenter blames his tools" and this fuckin thing is better than nothing but crimony - here, look: I get us on the bwp which is a reach-around I've always use to get around fucking interstate plugs in these parts, we pass a sign for the cryptologic museum:  fuck, do I wanna at least have a look-see one day at this pad. I remember my pop telling me as a boy about an agency called nsa - ain't that a trip it wasn't acknowledged 'til 1975? I bet conspiracy kooks get off on that real good, glad I ain't on that clown car ride! crimony. "hidden in plane sight" shit my ass - read about all the time this motherfucker wasted here both believing in lies/hate starting w/lying to himself. crimony. no way maybe to learn people on this, they gotta figure it out themselves prolly... I hope so, for all our sakes actually. I get us back on the I-95 and into virginia twenty after eleven... virginia is the state where I was born (in portsmouth) and also lived near there in norfolk... remember my pop was a machinist mate and naval station norfolk is the biggest navy base in the world... it wasn't 'til I was nine when I came to live in my pedro town... look at a map and you'll see where vietnam is in regards to california and virginia, remember it was in the 60s and there was a war going on over there... just after noon around fredricksburg I get us off at a "wawa" for the perscribed two hour piss stop, I have the great fortune of running into the reincarnation of albert einstein in the head... there's only two pissers and of course hodge uses the straightarm vince lombardy taught him to get the stall... this guy's talky-talky, first to the bulkhead and then in my direction (I'm to his starboard), "what's w/all this wall? what's w/all this wall, huh? they don't need wall, they need urinals, urinals - they need more urinals, huh?" I'm not quick enough, so he continues "what they need is pipes, little pipes - many little pipes, that's what they need in here" and then he's out, like after a five second piss. I can't remember but maybe that's how it was when I was more younger - done in five secs. anyway, I finally get a response out as he's making a beeline for a hatch, "yeah, many little pipes." I'm thinking there's many benefits I haven't though about, bringing aboard the two-hour-piss-stops, benefits like "unexpected enlightenment sessions" like this. then like an idiot when paying for my coff, I grab the little cup (I only get small coffs these days) too high up and it goes (not all but some) onto the counter, crimony. "grab cup from the bottom" I'm learning. oh, I also got a funnel for two bucks to help mike w/him loading up the half-filled water bottles as a way for me to get my doses of psyllium husks. real productive stop at the "wawa," huh? yep. surprise, surprise - lots of stupid driving on freeway!  crimony. you can't make this shit up... we pass an offramp sign for "spotslyvania" and of course I think of spotski (his old site archive here) - it's been this way when I'm in these parts since I started touring - forty years ago! man, I loved that man. we lost him back in march and it broke my heart, a terrible blow... loved spotski so much. man, it really deep feelings I have for him now - I play tonight's gig for him. it's also brother kyles' sixty bday (kanreki) - I'm doing tonight's gig for him also.  I get us into the northwest part of richmond (near vcu) twenty of two, soon kind parking opens up front of the venue, most happening, yatta! it's the camel which is a pad I've played a couple times before and dug.  I realize it's been friday since I've had my anchor around my neck - bending over my bass like a baka when I was setting up for soundcheck, the anchor caught onto a string and broke the chain when I pulled my head up. damn me. I got the anchor in my pocket... just need a chain. you know what's a trip? I got my first anchor necklace where the boat was parked back in cambridge - right next to what was then "tt the bear's" - it was during one of my first opera tours and I remember carrying a speakerbox (I was healthier then, knee-wise) and this hand was holding it, giving it to me. crimony. right near the gigpad is some artwork:  but it's the brickwork right near that trips me out:  I guess it was just getting it done, huh?! crimony. your work can be your artistic express or maybe HOWEVER, it IS your artistic expression. again: crimony! brother kyle brings me bbq from saucy and it's real good though only me and hodge can chow cuz mike and miss hiyori have allergies. we do soundcheck w/soundman cole and his helper becky. I wish brother kyle a happy kanreki and tell him about the one I had five years ago... it means like round II - over here it's like sixty is time to be "put out to pasture" but over there in the east it means if you've made it that far then it's 'pert-near re-birth time and a chance to get even more stuff happening in the shift you got - I love this idea! I'll see him later, big love for this man. I really dig this pad's stage and sound sitch, really do. destructo disk is opening and sharing the stage w/us, basslady molly's doing all their schlepping, respect! she knows how to play everything also but really bitchin she's working bass tonight. I konk 'til I hear them from inside the new boat kick up much dust, they get me lit! our turn... it was scheduled for nine bells and damn if we don't hit right then (love that, especially on a school/work night)- we bring it... well, hodge does but I forget to unmute my amp like a fucking but besides that I think we really rally after last night's gig - mike's pep talk I think a happening effect on all of us. also the richmond gig-goers really bring it right back, one cat dances to every fucking tune - even the abstract way-out stuff. crimony... MUCH respect! the sound is really good but we're communicating again like we've building up to all tour... like I said, I feel we really rally. I'm thinking of spotski much, I'm thinking of brother kyle and his kanreki moment on this planet, yes!  I pack my stuff up and the helperlady becky helps me get my speakerbox off stage and schlepped right out the side hatch - this pad is set up big time for the right-in-front park, thank you much, becky. bill and cotton (they were on my show not too long ago) show up w/hydrogen peroxide for miss hiyori's soreness in auditory canal and some fresh celery, most kind of them - wish I had more time to rap w/them, damn me. good people. I get to rap w/the cats in tonight's opening band, real good people - big honor to share the stage w/them and we talk all kinds of things... I think the singerman gideon bought my yellow coat I had to stop wearing at the end of the first leg of this tour - he's got a "paranoid time" tshirt w/that beautiful art raymond did for it. he's got the "we jam econo" doc dvd also, crimony! so many cats here to give me the good word - so kind, each and every one of them... I want them to know I'm most sincere sincere about that, I think it's beautiful... so much heart. I think the first time I played richmond was w/the minutemen opening for r.e.m. at a pad called "the mosque" maybe, some kind of shriners hall? man, I have trippy memories of that... and all kinds of times I've gotten to play this town - brother kyle being the main connect for some of them like at this "humphrey j's" pad he had at one point. crimony. love richmond. love virginia. uncle ray gives me a send off - some 'dines, pears and cheese/crackers which is pretty bitchin of him. no time to rap cuz he's a couple hours away in north carolina and his ride is waiting - we "rap" tons however via email. one day we're gonna get this movie going we've been conspiring to bring, one day! I get us to mechanicsville not too far from richmond where brother kyle's pad is. none of his family is here except for his ten dogs, four cats, a bunch of birds and a pig. me and him catch up lots of stuff - it's day 291 of no alcohol for me, us losing terry funk - one of my favorites... brother kyle knows buttloads about wraslin and has done it for years himself but one think that trips me out is he did not my favorite wrasler, don muraco, was also a longshoreman - this is hard for me to believe but here's something from the ilwu website on him, right here - brother kyle could tell you whatever on any number of these cats, he's way up on all of the but this one thing, idiot watt enlightens him on... actually this makes me think my own self when I think I got stuff covered like w/touring or like w/rilakkuma or like w/fuckin 'pert-near anything. I think it's a good policy to have humility to admit there's always something more to learn and of course that can lead to a whole buttload of other stuff... still, it trips me out HARD kind of that brother kyle did not know this about don muraco and I konk w/this heavy on my mind. crimony. wednesday, october 18, 2023 - ashville, nc from mike: Weird to eat bacon While I pet Kyle's pet pig... hmm Longer drive today Guess what? Grey Eagle Has attached taco pad - yes! I have a nice walk Thanks Taylor! Cool folks Big hall, but important we Always play our best from hodge:   watt drove his ass off today, we pulled up anchor at 8am arrived "the grey eagle music hall" @ 3ish. when we walked in it was apparent that this place really cared about organization and cleanness. big stage covered with good looking rugs mic stands all hung up same with all the cables. ship shape you would say! i got thru the set with the help of baggetta and watt with very few clams. been having some memory lapse in a couple of songs. both of the opening bands were really strong and musical. the club had a taqueria in one corner so no baggetta out running down chow. stayed in an air b&b everybody got a bed and a room, made good use of the laundry as well. from watt: pop at seven bells, piss and hose off. brother kyle's got the asagohan/frustuck ('breakfast' in both japanese/german) going: scrambled eggs, salmon, backo, raspberries AND blackberries - fuck yeah! not much berries on this tour... not complaining cuz of so much kindness already but I chow buttloads of it back in my pedro town. I'll supplement these w/a pear from uncle ray later. I chimped diary about me and brother kyle having the big spiel about wraslers terry funk and don muraco last night - what the fuck's wrong w/me? (don't answer, there's not enough days in a year for that one - I'm using that for hyperbole) it was THIS MORNING when we had the big spiel, during me shoveling this chow he just cooked up! crimony. I tell you: me trying to chimp diary accurate more even a day after the fact can lead to such stupid shit from me, I shit thee not. please know though I ain't doing this on purpose, I'm just slow learner and let me tell you, I don't how mike or hodge recall the shit they do sometimes weeks after the fact - those cats amaze me w/that kind of skill/talent.  oh, I got an email from karen schoemer telling me she's got covid19 for the second time... look, let me tell you about me not shaking peoples hands and using my own fucking sharpie (I know, using a brand name but I'm into it w/this object - not fucking search engines or internet shows though - call me fucking particular, so sorry!) is NOT just cuz of covid19, let me tell you about this. missingmen tour in the fall on 2019 where raul couldn't be part cuz of him and paloma's daughter sof being just born (instead we had big man on drums in his place), the dick watt tour had me thinking about in all the years of touring, 'pert-near every one had me sick for some amount of days - some flu or cold or whatever where I'd have to fuckin tough it out and not let either the team or the gig-goers down which I'm way into but was wondering why do I have to put my self 'pert-near on purpose in that sitch? now this is six months before the sitch w/covid19 and I ain't pretending to be able to "predict the future" or some stupid shit like that - actually I was trying to learn from my fucking past, capito?! I told myself, fuck shaking hands - not out of rudeness but out of concern for my health. you know what? not one fucking day sick on that tour - fortyfive gigs in fortyfive days w/driving every mile in the old boat (2005 ford e350 econoline). what do you think? of course thought I was being a dick (sorry pop), I mean pendejo but it wasn't about that. then you know what happened? two or three weeks after that tour ended, me and my secondmen had a gig in ktown where some clown (sorry but I gotta use that on this guy) grabs my fuckin hand after we get done and I'm kind of not on guard cuz I ain't in tour mode... can you believe a few days later when we (same band) do a gig in palm springs and I get so sick, peetzo's gotta take the wheel to get us back to pedro? true. end of sermon. actually, hodge told me ringo (beatles drummer and not 'apple' in japanese) stopped shaking peoples hands in the 60s! like I said, I'm a slow learner. I got another email that was way more positive - it was from tom watson w/new phone # which really makes me happy... tried to get a hold of him after failing twice before on sunday, got a little worried. I'll try to call him on today's drive - kind of a hellride at 380 miles, 'pert-near like my pedro to s.f. after a way too short spiel w/brother kyle - I could windbag w/this cat 'til his pig's piglets had fuckin piglets - we pull anchor at eight, can't wait to see him again... can't wait to be back in virgina. towards richmond to get on I-85, we got real good weather. only half a piss break time (two hours is what we're aiming at) but fuck it, after an hour, we stop at a piss house at freeway rest stop - why make one man suffer? that's crazy... it's no prob.  an hour later we cross into north carolina, bye bye virginia... twenty minutes later the new boat's at a quarter tank so mike finds on his leash a "shell" station in henderson that's got gas at $3.50/gallon but what trips me out is how there's these huge reels of razor wire on a fence that's maybe only three feet high but not just that, this fence is like surrounds like only about twenty percent of the station, the rest totally open... crimony, what's that about? anyway, across the road I see a lodge, "beacon light" is on the sign and though my eyes ain't good enough, I'm thinking it's prince hall... wish I had time to check it out.  ...interesting. I-84 and I-40 share the same interstate once we get to hillsborough, really good weather and pretty calm traff - like not much and even though there's some pendejos among them ('pert-near like filling some kind of "quota," huh?), it's one of our calmest journeys this tour HOWEVER, I get mike to find suicide's first album on the internet using his leash and he plays it... he knows about this band but I wonder if he's heard them really... I remember hearing "frankie teardrop" and that song has always affected me heavy, no matter how many times... it 'pert-near makes me cry hear - no one in the new boat talks when it plays, no one... thank god we soon pass high point soon as it's over (around noon), something to uplift me from what that song always seems to do to me... crimony, those feelings I get, oh man those feelings... now john coltrane spent most his growing up in high point (he was actually born in hamelt, not far) before moving to philadelphia and then joinging the navy... there's a few jazz cats that had north carolina-to-phily connects, like thelonious monk and dizzy gillespie for instance. ain't that a trip? I wonder why what happened just happened, why such a positive thing helped me throuh those heavy feelings? experiencing things like tunes and then stuff happening to you in the now... the way they can connect... it just blows my mind. it was like a salve on me though, on my spirit cuz I felt an incredible sadness... crimony. we go through greensboro, home of two of the members of spirit of hamlett (scotty and benjy) which is a proj I'm part of I really dig - scotty's drums for our round II are waiting for me when I get back my pedro town after this tour in fact. I gotta play greensboro one day - benjy says he can help make that happen, yatta! forty minutes later it's time for another piss stop but no fucking coff at this "pure" (what a name, huh?) gas station near mocksville... it takes two more stops down the road to find some, crimony! talk about the "coff-meister is not mocked" being reinforced by reality on our unwitting asses, correct? quite a backhand... next we got the smokies to get over but the road here is so much better than before. however, you see where rocks have come down to bring hell (steel nets to help protect from) and there's all kind of windy turns. I play it calm though, the only way I wanna know when it comes to working this vehicle. anyway, I get us safe into safe in asheville ten of three, just short of seven hours since pulled anchor from brother kyle's. weather's still real good. this pad has a taqueria built in and damn if the ones mike gets me are real stuffed w/pork, crimony! tastes good though and feels healthy. we soundcheck w/soundman pat (very coo people) and then I get to meet one of the openers, watches which got no bass but that's ok, I really dig their check and invite them to be on my show some time when I get back. there's a student of mike's in the middle band, a real nice cat but damn if I'm an idiot and forget his name. so sorry, truly. I'm kind of beat and gotta get to the boat and I konk for fucking three hours, truly I needed that. mike rousts me the 9:35 (real precise) go time and we bring. I enjoy this gig much. there's acoustic challenges cuz of the room's inherent stuff but hodge (the most challenged by this) "swerves to avoid" and does good. I really have a good time. that pep talk mike gave us in bal'mor I think is still working, yes! most kind gig-goers here... I've done only three ashville gigs in my life now but would like to do more. yes... the whole wester north carolina trip interests me much, lots of connects... watches drummerlady's pop helps me w/the schlep over some real uneven parking lot asphalt and then takes excellent direction get the new boat loaded up w/my stuff, BIG respect to him. we all three take an "usie" (c'mon, a "selfie" is one person, crimony!) and I wish so much I had that shot to put here but it was the pop's leash. I'm so happy I could be part of this threefer, music is fucking righteous and beautiful thing, I will NEVER stop believing in it, even w/some jive shit pendejos try to derail w/... it's a lifeline for watt and a most vital connect w/other humans, I shit thee not. the new boat all tetris-packed, suddenly we leave and mike guides me to an air b pad which is got a washing machine loud as a motherfucker but in the morning I'll do something about that... I'll chimp about it later cuz right then it was time for shaua ('shower' in japanese) and konk right after. thursday, october 19, 2023 - knoxville, tn from mike: Through the mountains here Back to another homeland Thanks J for coned spot! Love the pilot light And the tamales nearby Ms Hiyori's first! Mag & Scrapers kill Love to sing for Steve right here John and Mary - Thanks! from hodge: used to be mike baggetta's home town. that's where we first met. i was on the road with mavis staples and we met for breakfast. we were eating outside things were going fine then it started to rain we tried to wait it out, but the rain persisted so we got a spot inside. ok the gig at 'the pilot light" there in knoxville was really cool, this used to be baggetta's local hangout jason boardman handled our sound check he's also a drummer. the music went really well for us plus we combined all the new songs into the set, we usually do just half of the new songs each, we want to play them all more than every other day to prep for recording the new record the day after we get back home. we stayed with john and mary way out in the country. their house is large and fabulous. mary helped me out with a quick laundry. lotta talk about music and drum tuning. from watt: pop at nine after eight. crimony, I was tired - that was 'pert-near seven hour hellride yesterday but pretty calm traff wise (relatively) plus smoov roads mostly and only minor construct... lots of sitch's have pluses and minuses. anyway, I feel a little more revived and for sure not minus in the body recharge sitch. I chow two of those tacos I didn't chow last night... crimony, those were stuffed w/lots of pork. piece it out in sitch's like I think: piece it out. I read madonna stopped a gig to give a spiel on the war in the middle east. I have not mentioned this war in the diary yet. it's worried me I haven't done that... same w/war in ukraine... what would've d boon done? how would've he done it? life is not just trying to do gigs better for gig-goers, correct? it's not only about getting people safe from place to place? crimony... this is heavy on me. I mention this now in the diary as I chimp it... some good news though - tom watson sent an email w/what he says is his correct new leash #, said other one he had one digit wrong... crimony, it matters - correct? will try later (remember we're through hours ahead of him where we're at now - he's in manhattan beach, ca). we get lots of wash done, everyone gets a good rest cuz we ain't gotta bail 'til one which we do, then. good weather as I get us on I-40 east and onto the smokies - dangerous road still though now much better. there's some stories about why this had to... or had not to be. it's only an hour to the tennessee border... bye bye north carolina - for now! tomorrow she'll be a "transit state" on our way to south carolina. I pull us over at a "shell" to have mike gas up the new boat at $3.16/gallon... mike fixes me up so psyllium husks in the half filled water bottle - these last few rounds "cured" a tiny pain I was having - cleaned right out - that's what these things do, they swell way up w/water and act like a test-tube cleaner on your intestines, I shit thee not! that's why I gotta chew these nuts up real good. at home I do psyllium every morning so I was missing them.  I get us to the pilot light at three and half, in the "old city" part of knoxville (on its way to fuckin gentrificationville - mike says this gigpad is the last holdout. crimony). I played here last back w/my secondmen, so glad to be here again after so long. I get to have a good rap w/the padboss jason - he wants a new boat so I give him a tour of mine... like me, he's gotta move from an econoline to a transit but I tell him these new ones have got it together. for example: that winding stuff on I-40 I just got us through to get here was really no prob cuz they handle really well, especially for a boat. I show him all the stuff I did to make happen for touring a band like this one or my missingmen. he does soundcheck w/us - beforehand playing on his p.a. some horn of africa stuff I really dug. we're gonna try to play everything tonight - I asked him if we could really get focused on what we're gonna record the day after this tour's done.  mike got us tamales to chow - real good ones, thank you knoxville! crimony. hol and her daughter ruby come by and I go have a caesar salad while they chow soup and a pad right near, there's like a community celtic band playing, maybe ten folks, seems like whoever wants to comes on board - we spiel about so many things, so many topics - hol's daughter ruby has it really together, very interesting but maybe that's cuz hol's always been that way, since I've known her. time to get back to the gigpad - they got a chain for my anchor, crimony!  whoa, steve gigante's band has started the gig w/his omfffu group - they're a blast and I dig it - I've had the bassman matt nelson on my show, really dig his stuff. however, soon as they're done and I get to congratulate each bandman, I must get to the boat and get some konk so I don't let anyone down come go time. this means I miss maggie brannon and her lower interiors - damn me so much for that but what can I do? I got only so much fuel in the tank... damn me. crimony. mike rousts me five minutes before the quarter after nine scheduled mssv gig plunge - the omfffu set has really got me lit and also very interested in how playing every fucking tune we got for this 'pert-near is gonna work out. we bring it. the knoxville gig-goers are way focused - even w/a bar w/alcohol being slung, I feel big-time focus... maybe it's different back by the entrance hatch and merch table but not where I'm connected as far as gig-goers, you know I'm really connected to the other guys in mssv, especially w/the ojos but I have a sense of a feel that ain't ojos and that's where lots of connect is w/the gig-goers. new tune "hilarity and despair" has big-time other context cuz omfffu boss steve gigante wrote the fuckin words! crimony... you know he was on my show, correct? love the cat. anyway, back to the gig: yeah, every tune from the upcoming album we're gonna record day after this tour's last gig plus all the stuff from the current album - love it! cuz of this sitch, a real long encore! it makes me think of mike's spiel for the medley that contains my "yank it out" tune I wrote for mr keltner... he tells the gig-goers "here's a tune mike watt wrote..." and that's correct but the next two parts of this medley I DID NOT (instrumental version of the stooges' "1969" and a short piece of john coltrane's "equinox)! maybe he can revise his spiel for the rest this tour's gigs? I should've mentioned this to him right at the tour's beginning cuz it's always been bugging me but then I space on it the next day, damn me. I pack my stuff up and both hol and her daughter ruby help get my speakerbox and amp off stage, they do really good and keep me safe. I take some pictures w/some gig-goers, very kind people w/most kind words and then we're right out the hatch where the new boat is, what a righteous thing for a band on tour, truly. I open the back hatch, ruby takes real good direction and gets the speakerbox and then the amp situated just so, right where they should go. hol then does the same once I get the side hatch open and hol gets the bass where and how it should - the bass player's done! hol and ruby got a hellride to huntsville in alabama so they're off - safe seas to them! mike guides me as I get us in the new boat to john and mary's pad up some hills but not too far away, a beautiful pad that's also a studio called top hat recording. much respect. some winding road to get there but the new boat handles it real good. I am tuckered and konk quick and hard, so quiet here... love it. no urusai... friday, october 20, 2023 - west columbia, sc from mike: Great sleep in my room And chill porch coffee time here Thanks again Mary, John! I walk many miles for tacos here today, and Get back before hail! 1k Movie plays! Such good dudes, love them... couple Talkers over us from hodge: got there early baggetta had to go far for the chow, we were close to load in time, turns out we were on a crash course with destiny, the rain that turned to hail, crazy it was 70 degrees but it was a rain hail combo. met a bright eyed soul on the sidewalk we said hello, next thing i know he's the drummer in one of the bands playing with us tonight. Dominic we were both playing agop istanbul cymbals, he sounded great and the cymbals sounded great too. we were having a great set, we get pretty quiet in parts of our set, had some talkers on the fringe our the room, we played even quieter and stared them down, didn't stop them but the folks paying attention knew that we came to play and the we don't suffer fools lightly. from watt: pop at six and a half bells... mary's made most happening coff, fuels me up for replying to emails and chimping diary. there's stairs to do but there's a handrail for safety and w/no daily elliptical training routine for me cuz of tour mode, I don't want my port-leg to totally atrophy, capito? an email from uncle ray corrects my machi-gai ('error' in japanese) regarding him now living in virginia and him driving his own car - I think I got it correct now but I have trouble knowing what he's telling me... prolly my fault so people, please don't blame him.  more important for me though is the release of the miles cooper seaton tribute seven inch by il sogno del marinaio which unites all three original members doing music for a friend we lost way too early cuz of a automobile accident. there's a spiel about it here at the "psychedelic baby mag" site. that was a terrible blow and we had plans to collab w/him - I think we're gonna try to get out in the future the big piece we working on w/him, I think that would be way happening. it's so hard to lose people... I never get used to, never... love you brother miles, truly. so happening joe at red parakeet worked to make that happen. you know, at the heart of it, I believe music is about people, really is... always was and always will be, I think... genuine "fabric" to connect us, love it. mary cooks up fried eggs w/potatoes, bacon and tortillas - so very kind of her, truly - her and john just the best, so kind to us, truly. since their pad is also studio and I was on the ground floor cuz of my cojo sitch, I heard nothing from the other part - you can't imagine what a gift to watt that was, you CAN'T imagine. crimony. ten and a half we shove off to make the 270 miles we need to do to get to tonight's gig. we're doing the "whence we came" thing: east on I-40 14,700 wrecks in ten years over eight miles?! crimony... back over the smokies...  cross back into north carolina just before noon. rained last night you can tell easy but that makes for really pretty trees w/their bright-colored autumn leaves, love it. also safe road cuz sure enough, 'pert-near to script we see the mensa club members stack up on each other, doing the wannabe reach-around w/their eyes/vehicle... you see them travel in clumps, the way turds do on the way down shit pipes - big time apparent if said pipes were plexiglass, capito? fucking pathetic folly. mike is busy hard at work constructing a new sequence for our set for the remaining sixteen gigs cuz we wanna do all the tunes were gonna record the day after the tour but last night's set he says he's feeling now (cuz he's feeling the consequences now in his body) was too much and has to scissor some stuff. understood. things are usually a dynamic thing and not a take always on "mr robot's holy orders" (georgie always let me title his lyrics, very kind of him). at ashville there's some plug cuz of construction (assholes driving like assholes w/this going on, real "law and order" types I'm guessing - liars), we leave I-40 for I-26...  miss hiyori makes cheese crackers w/stuff uncle ray gave us but I think it's a little too much for me - not uncle ray's kindness but the amount of the crackers (mike holding a them on a tray between our seats) and the fucking huge size of cheese chunks on them. I know, I know - we don't want the to go to waste but fuck, too much... I ain't really been eating much cheese lately also... I get us accross the border into south carolina quarter of two - bye bye north carolina. near clinton, this piss stop is also a gas stop at a "shell" near clinton around, mike fuels the new boat at $3.16/gallon using one of those cards. they got boiled peanuts - first I've seen on tour but I'll pass for now - got a big jug of mixed nuts still pretty full that miss hiyori got back in cambridge...  I get us across the congaree river and to the new brookline tavern just before four. I've played columbia many times but never west columbia... I get us a most happening spot to drop anchor right in front, yatta! searching around, along the side and then to the back, I meet the managerman carlin - mention a little about the old days - he says the owner man has all kinds of stories about then. mike goes to forage chow for us. back in the new boat, I get a call from tom watson, yatta! that number he gave me had one "four" that should've been a "three" - alright, we got a connect w/a leash he says is gonna be his real connect. his voice sounds real strong, yatta! he says he's "75%" better, not just physical but also in the mind - yes - big time yatta!! I tell him mike told me he heard he (tom) has a gig coming up in a week in houston and tom confirms that, says he's gonna play guitar for an art thing for an artist he's worked w/for a while who's now a teacher at rice in houston. this is really happening news. we also talk about the upcoming missingmen album and... about him playing the first song w/mssv at the zebulon gig, the last one of this tour, FUCK YEAH! wow, this is a beautiful call - one reason I'm so glad I got a leash. mike returns w/these fucking righteous tacos (al pastor) I fucking love. crimony. in the rear view mirror though (I'm behind the wheel), I see the sky go totally black... in minutes we're in a huge hail storm - mike got some stuff loaded in but... the hail subsides and then the rain comes and goes... very trippy. glad it cleared though, damn was that a trippy ninety minutes. we do soundcheck w/carlin - mike was spending much time in the ride here engineering a new setlist cuz he said though he dug the knoxville gig, it knocked him out tired-wise once the adrenaline wore of so he's gotta trim it down. trippy kind of sound here on this stage, kind of like a prac pad. in december says they're out of here and east over the river, down by where I used to do gigs in this town, by where a pad called "rockafellas" used to be. well, we're here for tonight. I go to the boat but see my old friend rockin rodney who made the 110 mile trip from his charleston town (usually where I play in this state), so good to see him again. I konk some but the opening act thousand dollar movie rousts me and I'm glad they did cuz I wanna see them bad. I join rockin rodney on a stool next to him and dig the set they bring from their charlotte, nc town. respect. damn, where's my camera for the next band, locals brandy & the butcher which I'm digging also, rockin rodney hootin like he does after every tune, I join him w/just claps though. damn me, there's my camera (on the fucking stool, baka!) but they're done - what a fuckin stonato I am, arrggghhh. ok, our turn next, it's ten bells...   this is a tough gig for mssv but that don't mean I don't enjoy it. it's got prolly the most yammering but at the same time sam of the economen (remember him from the oklahoma city gig?) is dancing his ass off, right in front of me. the yammering at the bar 'pert-near drowns out our quiet parts but mike is smart about it and gets us to play even quieter - I love it! most the west columbia gig-goers might be tripping... I think a lot thought cuz I ain't played here in a while (maybe fourteen or something years?! damn me) that it was gonna be a watt gig and sure, I'm a part of this trio but it's all mike baggetta material, his band and he leads us. to me this is essential to understand cuz I'm really into that reality. life to me is about taking turns and I've asked cats to help me w/my "vision" or whatever regarding music so why I shouldn't I get better at that myself? it's obvious w/porno for pyros, w/j mascis + the fog, w/the stooges, w/tav falco and w/flipper but why is it hard for some cats to figure that out w/this band? kind of trips me out but I don't get hung up on it - just try to do my best for mike, hodge and the gig-goers were' bringing the gig to. there's good times along w/the tough stuff w/the yammering - like I said, I really enjoy lots of this gig, truly.  I met some great cats when I was w/rockin rodney and watching the openers, one of them named lee has his son and his son's buddy help me w/the speakerbox which is happening cuz many stairs are involved. they take great direction and get my stuff stowed on board the new boat real good. lee earlier talked to me about hearing me on the petros and money show on dodge radio (via the net I'm guessing) when money asked me what I'm trying to do on the bass and I told him "I'm trying to dance w/the kick drum cuz that's my closet note on the stage" - something like that... had to think about it a little so I could try to be clear. there was another man who spoke w/me right after, about first seeing me w/one of the tours I brought the screaming trees on, he asks me about craft stuff and how I relate it to my journey through music, especially since I lost d boon.  bassbrother jeremy takes a shot of me and him together:  usually I get behind the steering wheel and strap myself in to be ready when the rest of the team's ready so we can shove off but this time some cats talk to me about some trippy old days stuff - especially this cat sven, he saw the minutmen the first time they played in columbia - a pad called "the beat club" - I've never met anyone since that saw that gig and he knows about us playing greenville w/the peach puffins at "studio b" - crimony! this is a mindblow, whoa... incredible. much respect to sven, truly. big love to him. also to rockin rodney, he gives me his "cane stool" which is beautiful, so generous of him. crimony... this makes me real emotional.  mike guides us back into columbia and to an air b where soon I konk once I'm in the nightwear - too tired to hose off yet even... it gets this way when I spiel a bunch and tonight I prolly spieled more in one night then I have all tour. I ain't belly-achin about it though cuz none of it was smalltalk - it was all most sincere and I feel real fortunate to be a part of it. I also think I did good for the gig too - the main focus of tour besides keeping us safe... saturday, october 21, 2023 - jacksonville, fl from mike: Last homeland trip this Tour for baggetta today And only the state The humid is nice Did I miss it? Why..? weird... hmm... Will's dad: Springfield, MA! Desola is here! Tough gig though - weird sound - we play soft, off mic, get through. from watt: pop at six and a half bells, go piss and hose off. sun bright outside so storm is gone but not so much sun that it ain't 'pert-near like my pedro town weather-wise... that's the the bitchin thing about touring now and six months away - my favorite times to work the towns around the country. we got three hundred miles to cover so eleven and a half is the pull anchor time, I chimp diary in the meantime. us once again packed up in the new boat, I make for the coast on I-26 'til it t-bones into I-95, two hours I pull us into over near beaufort w/out gassing up but letting hodge foul some facilities at an exxon while I chow some of those 'dines from dave from c-level in cleveland - yes, seems I'm the only one chowing them and cuz of that, I do OUTSIDE the boat to spare everyone else the odor (different if everyone else was chowing them, correct?)... seventy minutes later we're across the border for a transit jump through georgia (bye bye south carolina)... damn if soon we don't pass a "on display" b-47...  ...which for me immediately puts my head in remembering-mode regarding these 1958 (year after my shifted started) broken arrows: tybee island (back in south carolina) and mars bluff (here in georgia), both featured the "delivery system" along w/its "device" (the military way of talking can be pretty surreal, correct?) getting all fucked up. I talk to mike about the film "failsafe" (my idiot memmory, b-58 footage - not b-47) and he has no idea of it but he does know of mr kubric's film on the same subject (b-52, remembered that one correct!) - ain't that a trip? he also doesn't know about "being there" - look, it ain't like I'm the thurst of movie stuff but crimony... maybe it's like some of that music I turned him on to earlier in the week, just a matter of timing when each of us was born, huh? I say that cuz he knows all kinds of stuff. I think people might think I know everything cuz I talk about stuff I do know a little bit about - that's a BIG DIFF from knowing about everything, believe you me. mike and hodge - miss hiyori also - know plenty of things I'm BIG TIME ignorant of and am eager to learn from them. I get us off at eulonia "shell" station so mike can gas up the new boat (via the donated card) at $3.16/gallon. I piss and get a hot pickle, avoiding the weird scene in the head that mike wasn't lucky enough to avoid. crimony... "weird scenes inside the gold mine" not just being a lyric. jacksonville is a little more than one hollywood (thirty miles, the distance it is from hollywood), from the florida border - we actually pass I-10 (the road that goes to santa monica in california!) as we get off the interstate and into the san marco part of jacksonville, it's quarter after five as padboss tim guides me in the back of jack rabbits... I put the new boat's culo on the hatch there. good to see tim again, maybe nine years since I played here? crimony, that's fucked up. I miss tim big time.  he gets me updated on news old soundman rob's moved to central florida after getting an offer he couldn't refuse for his pad - I've konked at that pad... w/the pair of pliers! miss rob, wish him the best. will hamilton and his family meaning wife autumn, son miles but his pop and ma also - his pop was a machinist mate like my pop and gives me a machinist mate sticker - crimony! find out that ther's a mssv connect w/will's parents - both mike and them are from springfield in connecticut, crimony! they spiel much about that and I listen and learn, really interesting. small fuckin world, huh? small fuckin world! everybody bails cuz there's stuff to do w/everyone... I spiel w/one of the openers, three young cats from here called chalk tiger first about stooges and then about minstrel music... one shift meets another, correct?  the cajon player from stillfire bellows says hi after we get done souncheck w/the new soundman here, mike. I chow tacos mike brings me from not far away, they're good. anthony of sn0re comes to rap w/me once doors open - yeah, I ain't gonna konk in the boat tonight and see both acts, didn't know the young men I was spieling earlier were on second but that's ok. it's good to rap w/anthony again cuz it's been a while and I dig his band. I do learn some sad stuff though - he lost his bassman to alcohol withdrawals... fuck, they 'pert-near killed me - I shit thee not, NOTHING to fuck w/even though it's got a good goal in mind, to get you off that stuff killing you, it's very dangerous... I didn't really know... after reading my tenth bio on john coltrane and reading he quit cold turkey, I just went for two days before 2022 ended... crimony - you wanna talk about hellrides. my heart really goes out to anthony, truly. he's doing new sn0re music though, can't wait to hear when he brings it to me, want him on my show to talk about also, can't wait. he tells me about his job trying to get the environment clean of forever chemicals - like what I had to do my own body, huh? crimony. big love to brother anthony. watching/hearing the two openers (during which joe popp comes over to say hi to me, ain't seen him in ages!) I tell mike when it's our turn at eleven (maybe latest gig of the tour?) that I think we should really hush it up, like we did during our first mssv tour (crimony, we weren't even called _mssv_ yet!), when we played in beacon, ny... damn, I remember john devries was there - fuck, we lost him back in january, a terrible blow but anyway, I listened to the bands that night before our turn and suggested the same thing... I think it save the day (acutally: night) for us cuz it would've be prolly nothing but din. it might've even led mike on to his path w/using dynamics more and more w/me and hodge, maybe? whatever, I think it was key this night like four fuckin years later?! crimony, "the lesson never lessens" - someone said that somewhere, correct? (maybe part of my third opera spiel, the fifteenth part maybe?). lots of challenges and frustrations w/me w/this gig... had to tell one gig-goer to shut the fuck up w/made me feel bad about immediately but damn, he was bogarting big time on mike's "on and on" new tune and it made for a moment a little crazy... let me say a lot of the jacksonville gig-goers were way supporting us in this kind of panic-mode to help save our set... hell, I 'pert-near sang off my mic most the time - "powering" the room w/only wattpower (not to be confused w/my wattplower - that's a bass) cuz of the low-mids fucking up everything - yeah, these gig-goers here for the most part let me do that. actually there were parts of tonight I really dug, really enjoyed... shows to go you, correct?  I pack up my stuff and get it in the new boat w/some help - again people don't realize I re-purpose my speakerbox as a walker but it ain't bad cuz yeah, the padboss tim let me drop anchor in a real happening way... I rap w/him some more, so glad to be doing bass at his pad again, so glad. I get thoughts of old soundman rob too while I'm spieling w/him, whoa... the experiences tour brings a person sure can be priceless and a genuine part of your fabric. this man tells me about learning d boon's "the cheerleaders" tune, well alright cuz I dig it much also. the chalk tiger bassman ryan has me sign his 'stang bass and both him and the drummerman blake have a happening good bye spiel w/me - rhythm section spiel, fuck yeah! we keep on keepin on... we shove off for saint augustine (oldest cointiously lived in u.s. town), where rob of screen arts lives cuz he's invited us to konk at his pad. it's about a fortysix mile drive south (mostly on the I-95/us-1) and it's 'pert-near two am when arrive - latest konk of the tour, so glad to use the air mattress, so glad. I really don't dig driving far after gigs cuz all the risk that entails but I guess ok for this one. rob's pad ain't the one I stayed in before - I think first time I got to konk w/him was maybe twentythree years ago! crimony, very kind of him... he printed up those plastic tour posters w/the art from raymond also... plus so many stickers... so very kind of him, truly. this pad he's got now is made from cans - yeah, peetzo and jer would trip on this cuz the load/unload cans for a living down at the docks in my pedro town for a living! crimony. I konk hard and quick. sunday, october 22, 2023 - orlando, fl from mike: Des, me and trooper Wake from Rob's Airstream - good sleep! Great hang with Rob here Des goes work, me too Email, we leave, Orlando Interview, tacos Tim Eerie is great Will is very kind! Faces I know here, and Des! from watt: pop at eight bells, second gig of this tour's "florida leg" in orlando's only a hundred miles away - we got lots of time to get there so I can catch up on email (hard to do lots of times on tour), here's one from my first punk rock hero, love this man and can't wait to read his new book, he's doing kind of a gig for it ("what just happened") and then a more heavy (in terms of sadness) email from brother bundy brown about brother tim barnes: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/timjbarnes very heavy "health journey" - crimony. this breaks my heart. thank god I got to do this the hand to man band album w/him, truly I am... beautiful man. an email from skipper jeff about his voyage he's on - my missingmen drummerman raul rents his pedro pad from - fuck it ain't like so much stuff is connected, huh? anyway, safe seas for skipper jeff. rob pops and music instantly comes on... I love music but I love to have quiet too - I'm a guest in his pad so I don't say anything... he cooks me up an omelette, very kind. he wants me to walk w/him but I bow out, too risky w/my sitch - too risky for me regarding why I'm here which is to do bass for mssv and get everyone home safe in the new boat. quiet now in the can pad now except for conversation w/hodge, joselyn and miss hiyori... I would do elliptical trainer w/rob if he had one - that the physical thing I do these days when in my pedro town. I appreciate his wanting to be physical, he apologizes for not having his sauna working (down right now) - hey, I would BIG TIME be into that cuz I love bof that and the shvitz (steam room), really love that stuff but hard for me to find places to do it. earlier he told me about these eight surgeries he's had, oh my god - the empathy feelings I get 'pert-near overwhelm me cuz I can fuckin more than imagine the hells he's been through. there were surgeries cuz of injuries and then there were infections from those that needed surgeries and all kinds of ther stuff - crimony, I mean real BIG TIME CRIMONY! it makes me think about my port-side knee and "getting it fixed" and why I say that is cuz sure, I don't have the mobility maybe I could but I also got no pain, absolutely no pain in my port-side knee. would I trade mobility for fucking pain and even worse, infection? fuck no. in fact, I am so grateful for my hands being how they are - they've actually improved since cutting down sugar, improved incredibly... by this time in a tour usually my hands are swollen like mittens and hurting like motherfuckers (used to eat aspirin and ibuprojen to treat the pain) but last tour and especially this one, NONE of this w/my hands - none. it was a problem for years and in fact the main reason I went to playing short basses in 1999 cuz I just couldn't handle the long ones live any more. crimony. I am so grateful for this happening - I was really surprised how cutting sugar cut inflammation w/my joints, really happy and surprised - more than that: really grateful. I found out sugar just ain't in bourbon or gummi bears (shit I really loved) but also pasta, rice, potatoes, bread, etc... I have really limited those now and good joint health is part of the result. ok, I can accept that bicycle riding and paddling kayak days are behind me but if I can still work bass w/my hands - thank you so much however truly! life's a journey for me and that means things can change so I gotta change too. my focus is music, anything to keep that a lifeline cuz that's what it is for me - a real strong connect, something that goes back to being w/d boon. I really wanna keep my hands well enough to work bass... for me everything else physical comes second. I ain't trying to speak for anyone or tell them how to be, just thinking out loud about my sitch and what's helping watt be watt. rob gives me this book by t.d. allman called "finding florida - the true story of the sunshine state" which I can't wait to read, can't wait and can't thank enough for being so kind to donate it to me. much respect to him. tour ain't just working gigs, it's also about learning about pads that ain't your own, real lucky to have that kind of opportunity sitch. christine comes by w/her dog - haven't seen her in many years, she speaks nihon-go w/miss hiyori. such a nice visit! mike joins us, des gives me two righteous rilakkuma things from her japan vacation she just had - one is an insulated mug and the other a little rilakkuma kuruma, yatta! two bells and we gotta say bye to christine, rob and joselynn - des is also going home to gainesville. south on I-95 and the west (actually southwest) on I-4, no stops - we pull up to will's pub a little after four.  we to soundcheck w/soundman tony and after brief him on probs we've had w/sound, explaining about how important dynamics is w/us - he's our fourth man tonight! mike brings us tacos, "korean" is written on one box and "aisian" on the other but I can't taste the differennce... trippy, they don't taste mexican but they are good, I dig them and recognize some korean tastes in both, like in the sauce. the feel real healthy in my, most happening. I'm chowing them here in in the new boat, it's sweaty (maybe in the high eighties?) - back to like earlier in the tour except for more humid. ain't trying to sound like I'm belly-achin though, glad to play this town again cuz it's been a while. earlier I met the padboss will (hence the pad's name) and he's very cool people, fills me and on jim and the stuff on orange avenue where I used to play the sapphire supper club for jim, all that kind of stuff...  I really look forward to playing my best both for will and jim tonight, also for bucky - bucky wrote me today and said he was born in this town in 1965. crimony. tonight's watt performance w/mssv in orlando is for bucky pope! I go to the new boat and chimp diary 'til I hear the opening band... whoa, really happening - even through the bulkhead, I'm into it so I get into the pad to catch the rest of locals timothy eerie - whoa, I love it.  I congrat each bandmember when they're done - I've said this before but what greater gift for one music cat to do for another than to play their ass off w/their stuff to help get that cat lit up so they can try and do the same? there is no such greater gift in my book, amen. nine bells and we're right on time - so glad that's happened 'pert-near every gig this tour - a HUGE reason is mssv jefe mike doing his best to make it be so, much respect to him. especially on a fuckin work/school night. we bring our set (the new revised one w/yet one more revision) and so glad we rally from last night - not that last night in jacksonville was a failure cuz every gig's got something to learn from but the challenges to bring it ain't so hampered by acoustic stuff. I really enjoy tonight's mssv gig, really do. there's something about rallying back, there's something about the band playing before you, there's something about the gig-goers being there bringing what they got (tonight's are most bitchin, thank you!) and there's something about the cats you're on stage w/, mike and hodge plus that cat on the knobs being your fourth "band member" for the night! crimony, so much stuff that goes into a gig, SO FUCKIN MUCH! it's a pity sometimes it gets reduced down to stupid shit, you really really have to be lying to yourself I think to give into such lame a non-think- mode to accept such crap, making being alive into something like slopping up gruel from a trough and thinking the only reason you're doing that is to produce turd. crimony. I get my stuff packed up and damn if mike ain't the one to get my speakerbox right from the back off the stage out a hatch that's there which is only feet from the culo of the new boat, crimony! much kindness from the gig-goers, one takes direction getting that speakerbox of mine in the boat real correct, thank you thank you... much good word and signing stuff... some strange for a moment - hopefully it was a misunderstanding or an accident but I had to extricate and get myself strapped behind the new boats helm... that's when jim comes up to say hi - so good to see him again, so good!  he reminds me it was his fax machine where the word came for me to help the stooges w/the coachella gig in 2003 when I was on tour w/the secondmen... ig would talk to me on the phone about next at the cowhaus in tallahassee - I thought it'd be one gig and it turned about to be 126 months, crimony! jim letherman takes our photo - crimony, I just remembered that jim letherman took those photos of edward, georgie and me on the back of the fIREHOSE "if'n" album, more crimony! billy comes up to the hatch next, he's just moved here from olrando and I can't wait to hear what music he's gonna bring now that he's in new parts, can't wait - bring it, billy! des is here so her and mike separate from us, christina takes his seat in the new boat and directs me to her pad in very nearby winter park where we'll konk - same pad I konked at w/the lite brothers back in 2011... crimony, that's a little bit of time - a little bit! she's got great little dogs - three of them... "minga" (named after gumby's sister) is so tiny! crimony. there's a cat too, loves pawing up the blankies like it was momma's tummy, correct? anyway, no room for the air mattress so I use that couch by the front hatch cuz I gotta get the new boat in for maintenance come the crack of dawn...  monday, october 23, 2023 - opa-locka, fl from mike: Meet up with the crew At Christina's, very nice New boat had service Southern most gig here At Rat's pad, full of great stuff But he just moved in? Kind of Salon vibe Rat and Mofsky play so great What a scene - big thanks! from watt: pop at five and a half... I go piss and then bail, didn't even get in the nightwear last night, konked in my tour outfit. I wanted to be ready quick, konking on the couch was a good idea also I think. remember, a boat is the center of the touring universe for a tour like this w/me and I can't cut any shorts in regards to that - "I gotta do what I gotta do" to quote tom herman (I've though of him singing this so many times since I first heard him sing it, when fIREHOSE got to open for tripod jimmie once in san jose, ca in the late 80s, it made an incredible impression on my life... d boon always dug his guitar playing pere ubu also. anyway, it's no burden if "the center of the tour universe" for me is healthy, absolutely NO burden and it's worth any small-time whatever in regards to doing what it takes to make that happen. I ain't just saying this but truly mean it. I get the new boat over to "sun state ford" in nearby orlando (takes about ten minutes) and what I dig most about this dealership is the waiting room having actually two rooms w/one of the W/OUT a fuckin tv blasting bullshit. I catch up on email and chimp diary 'til the new boat's ready - they told me there's a recall for it... needs a new backup camera - the lady here says it's been reported it fogs up and the part needs to be ordered but I said I'll take care of that back in so cal, after this tour's done. the new boat was first in line and at nine and a half, she's ready, yatta! whoa, you should see the line for vehicles waiting for service - the early go I did was BIG TIME worth it, really was. I get back to christina's in winter park real happy. she soon pops and makes us some breakfast after feeding her dogs and the cat... she makes us salmon w/scrambled eggs w/spinach and potatoes, they're really good and feel healthy - I think the oil she used had garlic, yes! she gives us a paper plate full of raspberries also... I'll chow them on the drive. she is so kind to us. mike rejoins us and soon it's time to shove off for our third florida gig, further south in opa-locka... in fact the most south gig of this tour! down the road called "florida's turnpike" ("florida's turdpipe" in the new boat here), "swimming" w/the pendejos being real risky shitheads - I ain't gonna get into it but some of the worst... my guess is lots of rental so maybe tourists doing mario andretti cosplay jive-live act-out? it's all over the country though so I don't wanna give anybody any biased impressions - lots of beautiful florida cats, love them. anyway, at three bells we get caught in a looky-loo plug... what's that mean? it means our plug is not from accident on our side of the road but by motherfucker looking at the wreck going the other way. crimony... get me a fuckin shovel. onward, twenty after one I pull us over at a "shell" station at a "service oasis" and mike gasses up the new boat for $3.44/gallon. "apple maps" car is in the wrong direction and the driver won't get off the fucking leash... scroll, scroll, scroll - watt honking the fucking horn, blinking the lights but scroll, scroll, scroll - I see the eyes FINALLY come up to acknowledge - yes! this shit w/leashes and operating vehicles - it ain't just on the fucking road! crimony. more onward, exit for "hollywood boulevard" - I shit thee not... I got a minutemen story about "hollywood, fl" - here goes: it was on a tour (last one maybe?) when d boon had me wearing army clothes and not shaving (look at the back of "three-way tie") when me and him were having a "discussion" about whatever kind of intense in front of this bank in what turns out to be hollywood - the florida one, not what I know in so cal (about thirty miles north of pedro) and I guess some bank employees called the local police just when d boon decides to get some spiralina in a nearby store. the officers come up on me w/this "hey what's up, fidel - you from hollywood?" now in the punk scene I'm from "you from hollywood?" is like calling you a poseur so I laughed, not on purpose but like a reflex reaction, something involuntary and man, did these officers right away get angry... real angry w/their eyes narrowing and hands on guns - understand, I didn't realize I was actually in hollywood, fl and I never pick fights w/hombres - NEVER but just then, d boon - not knowing anything about what was coming down w/me - both hands full of packs of spiralina and the officers started busting up laughing, asking me "is this your che guevara?" and then putting their guns away, getting in their car and taking off, cracking up big time - like red in the face. whoa, couldn't believe that happened... d boon just looked at me, like "what the fuck, posk?" (that's what he called me) and I was kind of shaking still but then hugged him so hard, so hard. just after four I get us off this "florida's turdpipe" (does end up in "mar-laga" maybe? if so, please flush twice) and into a storage padas area where the gig is tonight just after four, whoa... that was a drive. not cuz of the length but cuz of the pendejos. very stressful. rentals is what's mostly doing real stupid shit, maybe cuz of vacation-mode behavior? you tell me, I just wanna keep us safe and figure they might also if they really fuckin thought about it. four bells I get us to the miami music archive in opa-locka which houses the righteous music cat rat bastard whom I know best from brother steve mackay - so good to see him again, truly. right away he makes me at home at the control portion of the pad and I get learned all about this opa-locka town and rat's previous miami adventures and before that, his new york city ones... really incredible learning from him and I could listen forever, in fact there's no soundcheck so he packs in more and more on me, stephanie bringing most righteous hummus and broccoli - rat only taking a break to go w/mike and bring us back most happening tacos for chow, rat continuing the spiel while I chow - me asking buttloads of questions w/him never NOT having an answer and a most righteous story and multiple tangents to go along w/it. I'm digging big time. the only thing though is I run of gas, prolly cuz of having to bring in the new boat this morning so early and then dealing w/the pendejos driving like, well pendejos to get here. crimony, I gotta get to the new boat just to rest some to good for the upcoming mssv set... damn me for instead of resting, passing out really hard for like two solid hours - mike rousting me after both rat and russell mofsky each bringing sets for the clean house - our turn is at ten. we bring it and I'm digging the set right from the start. yeah, there's some red lights in my eyes but so what, I got this the stuff down for this tour now cold though I do fuck up the order w/one and confuse hodge some but some hollering from mike fixes that. the opa-locka gig goers really give us good focus/support w/only a couple of clowns yammering - actually I learned about them after the gig cuz for the life of me, I felt really connected to 'pert-near everyone here tonight, I shit thee not. I really REALLY enjoyed this gig, really did. there was a harp by mike - there's so much interesting stuff here (it really is an archive in so many ways) - mike said he was actually working this harp into his trip tonight, fucking alright.  I pack up and this drummerman daniel zebulon helps me load my speakerbox into the new boat - earlier I put the culo right up to the hatch. he's a great cat and damn if it would've been something to have him on board w/us tonight for a tune. I thank him big time and am so glad to make his acquaintance. I get the good word from so many that were, my first opa-locka gig really was special for me, really was. can't thank rat and stephanie enough, not enough - such beautiful cats to have us aboard, same w/the opa-locka gig-goers, truly. we follow russel to his pad not too far away in biscayne park. he's got a bitchin pad in the back of his pad - maybe the best konk pad of the tour so far though I've been most grateful for everyone we've been had in, truly I am - hard to pick "best" actually. I hose of and get into my nightwear. lots of room for the air mattress and damn if I ain't tired as fuck again. the weather is really calm, no more swelter. I konk really really good. thank you so much russell. tuesday, october 24, 2023 - tampa, fl from mike: I shower outdoors Kristen is so kind to us Many breakfast snacks We meet Gabe for pics Has great story 'bout Andrew Inspired our new pic Great gig bosses here Liquid Pennies kill, unclear But my power dies from hodge: played with double drum band "liquid pennies" very tight work by both drummers!!! we had a good set baggetta's amp went south on the second song, watt and i just kept groovin and mike got his back up amp into play, sounded fine ok not as good as his tube amp but come on it really saved the day. we are staying at dylan's house he's the bass man in "liquid pennies" we are playing all the newest songs every night, we started the tour trading off playing half the new ones each night then the other half the next. we wanted to get on all the new material each night to prep for the recording of the next record, which we will do the day after our last gig at zebulon in los angeles november 4th. from watt: popped just before eight. bring coff into my mouf from a machine I don't dig but don't blame caffeine delivery mechanism, I think maybe it's the syrup-cartridge itself that's bunk? maybe when you're chimping a diary it's easy to blame things w/no chance of argument back? maybe humility is good thing to have when something kind of one-way like a diary, huh? outside I sit in a chair cuz it's 'pert-near like weather in my pedro town. there's a siamese cat which prolly belongs here but keeps its distance, I blame it not - I'm russell's guest, correct? his wife brings us boiled eggs which I chow three plus chow hummus that came w/it using broccoli as the delivery device, yes! I chimp diary after I shave, bail at noon. up north on the "florida turdpipe" 'til I-75 helps make us the 275 miles we need to do today... it takes east to west through the florida everglade stuff before turning north at naples which is where we stop at "shell station" (mike gasses up the new boat for $3.36/gallon) and damn if they ain't got a cuban chow kitchen, I get a couple of tamales - never had cuban-style tamales before... different than mexican, way more masa and only tiny bits of pork but I dig them still, good to go w/the grapes from stephanie back in opa-locka, real good. I get us back on the road and mention to my nakama about all the markers I guess the state of florida put up on the side of the road as memorials killed in traffic deaths, they got "drive safely" on them. crimony. some have extra stuff put up be interested parties, prolly those connected personally w/this tragic stuff? very sad, very humbling for me. I wanna drive even more careful - this is not a bad thing! we buttloads of egrets, also ibis birds and of course turkey vultures. we got egrets in my pedro town but not ibis birds or turkey vultures. actually, I see turkey vultures everywhere there's interstate/highway. maybe that's a good thing? helps w/the "garbage collection" maybe? speaking of which, mike says he can't believe all the roadside garbage... I think he's lived in gainesville a few years now. here's another thing I've been sign on the roads here in florida, new for me: death markers that look like they're put up by maybe the state?  sometimes (like this one) they're accompanied w/other stuff, like a cross or something... I've seen a teddy bear even, terrible. the cross marker I've seen all over the country but this round marker thing here in florida seems like a newer thing but you know, I ain't played much in florida my more recent tours - I want that to change though. back to these reminders of the consequence of people driving like pendejos, I think it's a good thing, I really do. I always pay attention them, always. speaking of stupid driving stuff, look at what brother joe de just sent me: https://jalopnik.com/massachusetts-woman-drives-car-into-trash-compactor-1850945566 crimony. I get us to the gigpad for tonight, the hooch & hive twenty of six, whoa... "arrived alive" though is what counts though, correct? crimony. it's right near the university of tampa and soon gabe lowenberg takes photos of the mssv band, I know gabe going back a little bit... actually a good while! I have a good long rap w/gabe about my health being much better except of course for the port-side knee though there's no pain there, NONE. he talks about he himself chowing better these days. alright. we do soundcheck w/soundman lace and mike not too long brings over tacos for me to chow - really good ones w/roast jalapenos and onions... I meet the liquid pennies drummerman casey - actually one of them cuz they got two, crimony! I've had ches and dylan on my show twice now (here also), really honored to share the stage w/them, truly. I go to the boat to chimp diary... crimony, I find out we lost todd apperson just a little while ago... very sad. I knew todd through d boon's younger brother joe - they were of the same age group, like three years different but in those days (when we way more younger), that was a big deal so I didn't know him at all the well BUT I did have a lot for a sitch like that mainly cuz of music spiel - he had much love for that, knowing about albums, bands and was a guitarman, like d boon. todd was always most kind to me and d boon and in fact, was to take d boon's place (it was d boon's decision - he picked him) in the last version of the reactionaries in 1979 but that never happened though he played that band's last gig w/us, it was at the suburban lawns prac pad in long beach where they usedto do gigs there sometimes. I then didn't hear from him for a long time - then had some contact from him in pedro... I think maybe ten years or so later and then he left town and maybe moved to las vegas... I got to see him again after all this time when he moved to washington state when he came to see me w/mssv at the "royal room" in columbia city in 2022. crimony - only that once after so many years. we did do emails - tried hard to get him to do that instead of fuckin fakelook messages... what I was really trying to do was get him to do music by trying to get him to do a collab by trading files but he said his hands couldn't play like they used to, some medical problem. I suggested to him that he could play more simple and stuff his hands could handle, just do what he could do... he was actually a very good guitarist from what I remember, really good. damn, I wish we could've made music together - music's been such a lifeline for me and I felt he need something like that also cuz not too long ago he had lost his wife (maybe a couple years ago?), I know it was a terrible blow for him... oh man... it's hard to figure things out - maybe some stuff just can't be figured out... why things happen or how or whatever? well, I'm doing tonight's gig think of todd apperson. liquid pennies a great version of eno's "third uncle" - they're tear it up w/these two drummers doing the same parts - you know how tight you gotta to play together to avoid fuckin flam city w/that kind of stuff? crimony! much respect to them. our turn at quarter after nine. really happening spirit from tampa gig-goers, I think the liquid pennies cats really got them lit and we start strong, me saying todd apperson's name "todd" in "baby ghost (from the 1900s) first a few times in my head and then w/each note I do w/the bass which coincides w/hodge's snare hits. whoa... it feels trippy and then bam, right at the beginning of the second tune, mike's guitar cuts out, totally stops so me and hodge just keep in the groove w/the verse figure, over and over as mike scrambles to get some kind of sound. he does have a backup amp, electro-harmonix "magnum 44" amp pedal and gets that going... it takes a bit but we plow on through and I actually enjoy the set - yes, it's different but we swerved to avoid and survived, most happening. the dynamics really helped, sounding different doesn't so much change up that dimension as long as we do it tight and we did. I think mike should really get some big ups for how he managed this crisis, I really do. hodge did really good also and you gotta hand it to the tampa gig-goers for being so open-minded, truly.  I pack up and get my stuff to the boat, a nice man named anthony taking great direction getting my stuff stowed in the boat. I sign a bass for a bass brother, respect. I sign a bunch of stuff and also spiel w/most kind gig-goers. it's a good time. I wonder about the four manholes w/the word "grease" on them - maybe it's a name or is it for fuckin grease... like four manholes full? oh, anthony knows why manholes are round - it's to keep them from falling through, capito? liquid pennies bassman dylan has invited us to konk at his pad in saint petersburg so after good byes to some cats w/their kids even - big bye to brother gabe, we head west across a 6.5 mile causeway and drop anchor, so very kind of him to have us aboard, truly. I am tuckered - he let's us put the air mattress up right in the front room and soon I am out... thinking about todd apperson and his time to say bye. crimony. wednesday, october 25, 2023 - tallahassee, fl from mike: Thanks Dylan, Cari! Fob test yields results, key case For all, I eat mints Another long walk For the tacos, amp repair Not required... Aha! Band of Names - good show! We play good for Florida shows Thanks again, Christian! from watt: pop at seven and figure out how to get the coff going... dylan's got a sack of "tim horton's" to deliver the caffeine w/and I manage to make it happen. him and cari join us and while, during and after them cooking us vegan versions of eggs, sausage and maybe even potatoes, maybe not vegan potatoes (I'm a little ignorant about this area but this along w/his own salsa tastes good, I get another full plate), we have this huge spiel, maybe the biggest one I've had someone pad of the tour, very interesting cats, this couple. I 'pert-near don't chimp much diary even, crimony! cari is an artist, her and miss hiyori talk much about her art while me dylan are spieling about one thing after another, big time into tangent mode. it's interesting. they got a twelve year old dog that acts like a puppy, very friendly. the weather is much like my pedro town, really happening. we gotta pull anchor though at eleven though, time for our last florida gif of the tour and it's gonna take us rolling for 'pert-near three hundred miles. bye bye dylan and cari.  back across the causeway whence we came and then north on I-75, and after about two hours we the pass musuem for big daddy don garlits in ocala where I pull off and mike gets gas at an "exxon" for $3.30/gallon for the new boat and I get a big hot pickle for watt, we push on w/skies full of clouds but no rain. not as many dick drivers but still enough to be afraid a little bit and laugh a lot - you kind of have to. at lake city I get us on I-10 west. I ask mike to find w/his leash via the internet some curtis mayfield that dezo played for me at sst (the one in old downtown torrance) in the early 80s"curtis/live!" - (maybe you can hear it here?) cuz I think he would really dig it, ("very intimate" is his response) cuz I think we got some moments like this going w/this tour, some. I love this album so much, have heard it buttloads of times and each listen gets me lit - lucky scott I consider a GREAT bassman w/beautiful feel and creative touch, I think of him much when I'm trying to groove - did this going back to my minutemen days... can't ever thank dezo enough - fuck, dezo would bring in all kinds of music into sst when I was either soldering toroide transformers (remember that sst stood for solid state transmitter at first, greg was WAY into ham radio before I met him he told me) or calling up college radio stations which in those days was way jive, you had people at them playing journey or whatever so they might get a leg-up on being a (as d boon put it) "corporate pawn" in the fuckin racket. yeah, no music really from the movement for a while... I consider r.e.m. the band that got stuff from the movement played on college radio, much respect to them. remember, I was there, calling these stations (I would tell them my name was "spaceman" - so it didn't sound like I was being partisan towards the minutemen) and trying to get these people to open their minds and try out some music that wasn't already being forced down people's throats by the mersh stations, I shit thee not. trippy how the last minutemen tour turned out to be opening for these cats who knew all about the movemen - the singerman michael even interview us minutemen the first time w/we played atlanta, at the 688 club. he didn't tell us he was a singerman, said he was a writer for a fanzine and asked real good questions, really surprised us when we met him in tallahassee for the first gig of that tour - crimony! by the way, that gig never happened cuz of hurricane kat - our first gig w/them was actually in jacksonville, fl the next day... our last gig w/them in charlotte, nc on december 13, last time I ever played w/d boon and I was on fucking guitar - pete buck put me on one of his so all seven us could do "see no evil" (a television song). crimony. we cross the suwannee river right before three.  shortly after I pull the new boat over for a piss stop at a "sunoco" (no gas up), I never leave the new boat. I think these stops every two hours are necessary though and plan to implement them in future - yeah, forty years into this stuff, always keep your mind open to learn new things. crimony. back rolling for the last chunk of miles (yeah, we could've done the whole enchilada but I dig the "two hour break" trip), I get us to the tallahassee gigpad, the 926 bar & grill ten minutes ahead of the sche'd four and half soundcheck time, get the new boat's culo on the hatch for the load-in. hey, the gigboss is brian, last saw him when I was here at the cowhaus (the second one) w/my secondmen in 2003 where after soundcheck ig called me about doing the stooges gig at coachella, saying to me on the phone at the pad "ronnie says you're the man, mike" and I 'pert-near fuckin fell over. crimony. he then asked "can you do me a favor, can you wear a tshirt instead of a flannel" and I answered "fuck yeah, it was john fogerty's idea anyway!" - I then asked him, "how about levi and flannel?" and he answered "that's strong" and I thought "whew, that's most cool of him" and I meant that most truly. he then talked to me about a nightmare he had where the drummer was in bright green and the drummer in bright orange... whoa, didn't wanna do that to him. he then when on about how he was gonna have a trippy light thing happening and I was just so happy he was talking to me about all this... he finally got to the music, he said "now about the tunes: the way we'll end them will be the way we end them - see you soon" and that was it... that last part kind of tripped me out but then when I left my guys in memphis to fly out to so cal and we do a prac in hollywood at s-i-r, I realized a lot of the tunes from the first album faded out so that's what he was talking about. the stooges guys were really happening cats, they invented their own kind of music and I loved it so much and there I was, I got to do it w/them for the first time in twentynine years. crimony. I rejoined my secondmen in raleigh and did thirty more gigs right after... very surreal - I thought it'd be one gig but it turned in to 126 months! crimony. me and brian catch up w/what's been up in town here - actually been a while since I've played here - who's working the bar, bassman ian - that time ig called me later night we konked at his pad - small fuckin world, huh?! way crimony.  I watch/listen to tonigh't openers, locals called band of names do their soundcheck - two cats on bass! one of them (chris) has invited us to konk at his pad tonight, very kind of him, he also sings in this group.  soundman dwayne asks them to turn down cuz he's gotta go to court in the morning cuz of some sound issue... we check w/him but I guess dynamics help us w/that issue. mike then takes his amp apart after another call w/its builderman chris benson to clean some effects loop jacks - maybe this is the problem? I go to the new boat to chimp diary. it's a good while before mike arrives w/tacos... he had like a three mile schlep to get these, crimony! mike does what he does to help his team, absolute! I'm most grateful. damn if I ain't after chow I'm out like a fuckin light. crimony. mike rousts me for the quarter after nine go but when it's that time to do, again mike has equipment time hell and is scrambling like crazy to get shit happening somehow to make this gig go. crimony. guess mike didn't get the problem solved w/that work he did on the amp but the backup "mangum 44" saves the day and we bring our music to the tallahassee gig-goers who are most kind and respectful, big time. I enjoy the gig very much - yeah, missing the chris benson amp sound some but not in terms of the big picture cuz for me mssv music is a lot about the people operating the equipment instead of the other way around. I pack up after the encore (soundman dwayne who I think is also the padboss told us as he was packing up stuff too that "it was good to see some grayhairs up here" - he's coming on that chapter in his life also!) and some drama w/this guy wanting to "help" me w/my speakerbox which means NOT letting me use it for a walker. I'm very grateful for mike helping me w/this though maybe this guy was offended but why? we don't mean to be rude, we are MOST GRATEFUL to each and every gig-goer but damn, I need to use my crippled up parts somehow and the speakerbox doubling as a walker helps BIG TIME w/that, it really does. it ain't me being masochistic but trying to be therapeutic to address my shortcomings. I do get help where it's needed - not cuz I couldn't do w/out but cuz I'm at the new boat now and don't need the help of a walker, capito? this man takes real good direction and gets it stowed most happening, also w/the bass off w/out taking my arms off. I get behind the wheel, strap in myself w/the seatbelt and get the window down to get the most kind good word, sign much stuff, distribute d boon stickers... a former navy man who worked engine rooms as an officer named bryan spiels a while w/me about stuff I can relate to cuz of my pop's time in the navy. I really enjoy this time w/him, really do. my pop was an enlisted man so I knew about that world a little more but a sailor's a sailor maybe? we spiel about that too, how my life doing what I do is what my pop told me after I started sending him postcards from tour, "you're like sailor" - that's where I got the idea for my first opera. I'm most grateful to bryan for this rap, truly I am. we get over to band of names man chris' pad and I hose off soon as I can, get in my nightwear. they got like a chamber they converted over from something else that I feel is very happening for the air mattress - it's also got a sliding door to make separate what turns out to be the long-term spieling chamber to what I need as a konk chamber and soon I let my real tuckered-out self konk after getting things dark as I can... fuck, it's already one bell! thursday, october 26, 2023 - atlanta, ga from mike: Very good sleep here I catch up on emails too Leaving Florida now This pad has new stage Room, dumbass mouth played, first time For us though... better! Bills band kills! Brian's Too... many good folks here, J Will, Bryan also! from watt: pop at seven bells. we get our wash done. debra and chris cooks us up scrambled eggs, bacon and grits plus grapes and strawberries to go w/it. I use this "liquid summer" - I got last night from the cat who makes it - friend of colin john (remember him back in columbus, oh), blind boy billy. he tries grabbing my hand though when I offer fist pump, kind of weird... I mean for me cuz like I would never do that to someone. I do appreciate another bottle of his sauce though:  they got a turtle named "pinkle" here in a fish tank in the room I konked in last night that's really interesting. my dear friend nanny's got a turtle named moses she got like forty years ago, still going strong. crimony!  I rap w/chris and debra's son sasha about the idea of "genre" being a terrible way to dumb down the experience of music cuz for me, music is music. you don't have to have a label for it to like and in fact, that might bring in prejudices that got NOTHING to do w/music. I had heard him talking about some band w/hodge and using all these "genre words" to talk about what I find kind of whatever - I mean really WHATEVER. crimony. he asked hodge about black flag. you know about the curtis mayfield music I had mike play us yesterday? dezo (blag flag's third singer) turned me on to that. he didn't listen to stuff that only sounded like black flag, one reason I think greg liked him in black flag. capito? we shove off at eleven, really happening pedro-like weather to help us w/the home stretch part of the tour. the interstate is way west of here if you're going to atlanta from tallahasse so that means getting on us-319 to make part of the 260 miles we need to get to our next gig it atlanta... that's what mike's apple maps chooses for us and we submit... in forty minutes I get us across the border into georgia - bye bye florida, it's been a happening five gigs, yes, thank you so much, truly... "florida mini-tour" !!! don't wanna be away so long again. it's lots of cotton fields on the side of this undivided road for the most part. it ain't all us-319, there's georgia state roads also but not a lot of traff which is fucking righteous. sometimes the algorithms actually help! a quarter of one and I stop pull the new boat over in sylvester at a "shell" for fuel, last time mike can use that card he was given, all used up now. $3.00/gallon but I'm realizing I've been chimping "cash" prices and we're prolly being charged "credit" prices so add like ten cents or something please, just for the record. damn me for inaccurate tour chimping, damn me. I get a "'gone dilly' whole kosher pickle" and some coff... onward in the new boat after I piss in "the gaming room" (these hatches lead to a bar part of the gas station where the heads are... kind of a combo one-stop pad. I take us a few more miles of a little road 'til we're on I-75 and then get us off a macon at a mall 'pert-near roadside to it around twenty of three. the plan is to stop at a "shit hard center" (I ain't using their other brand name) to get some nine volt power supplies for his boxes cuz he's thinking it wasn't his map that was the fail but a power supply... we'll we get over to this shit hard center in this big mall area off the freeway... mike gets the devices and as we'er leaving, the new boat tells me the rear port tire is down to fifty pounds... oh oh, we took a nail. mike uses his leash to find a "discount tire" (that's their name, part of some chain?) not even a mile away, kind of in the same mall area so I pull the new boat in there and the managerman brandon says he can get it plugged in an hour and a half. ok. that's some good luck... and here's something else, the new boat tells me the pressure of all four tires and damn if the front ones are at sixtyseven and sixtyeight - rear at fifty and sixty. a look at the sticker on the inside of my hatch says the front should be fiftytwo and rear at sixtyfour - what? I think I know what's up: when the ford dealership in winter park a couple of days ago rotated my tires, they didn't check the inflation for each w/them now in new positions, prolly happened in greenville also - crimony. shows to go you, huh? the dealership too... c'mon people! we wait and I chimp diary in the meantime. the man working on the boat is beautiful and said he made sure all the pressures in all four tires are shipshape, reset the sensors also. he's most kind and damn - it's 'pert-near ninety minutes to do the job, just as they said. "discount tire" gets a BIG shout out from mike watt for there most happening help, truly!  back in the race, I get us on I-75 north and am sure glad as we get closer to atlanta we ain't going the other direction cuz it's fuckin plug-city big time. crimony. last time mssv played atlanta (around a year and a half ago), we did boggs social & supply and that's where we are again. hol's here too - remember her in knoxville? no ruby this time but we have a long spiel cuz we're too late for soundcheck... better than being too late for the gig, correct? that's why mike put "baby ghost (from 1900s)" first, it's a good tune for soundpeople getting the sound together. now hol wants me to get some konk which is good so w/about eight she let's me konk in the boat and I'm out quick.  there were two openers I hear but I had no idea - the parking lot is so far from where the stage is, there's no way to hear and I was out solid anyway. twenty of ten is our go time and mike rousted me w/like five to go so I hobble as quick as I can w/making things to risky for me... that would be really baka. I like how they moved where we play from last time - I think it cuts down on the yammering. there are things I really dig about the gig but there's also some challenges - I'd say like four of the tunes (all of them new ones) gave us trouble. I think the sound is much better in this part of the gigpad and it be further from the bar and around the corner from it helps big time w/the focus... gig-goers actually look down on you cuz they're up higher... they were supportive of us tonight too, so supportive. I'm most grateful, truly.  hol helps me pack up and my old friend mike patton (not that "mike patton" but this one here) helps w/my speakerbox cuz there's some stairs involved but once he schlep up these, he understands the dual purpose of it and lets me use as a walker - maybe it takes a bassbrother to understand, huh? very kind of him. he moved from o.c. in cali a couple of years ago to nearby athens and has a new band there called gebidan (some of their music is here) that I really wanna share the stage w/next time I'm back in these parts. he gets the new boat loaded up good w/my stuff and w/the seafaring spiel being involved, of course we get into "the sand pebbles" - both movie and book part... trippy, lots more cats know of the movie rather than the book and I guess that's the way it was w/me at one point also... fuck, I didn't even know there was a book when me and d boon first got into it. crimony, prolly would've helped cuz we both couldn't figure out much of what was fuckin going on in the movie bust still really dug anyway - ain't that a trip? it's like hearing minzy singing hangul and not knowing anything about what it means - prolly cuz dancing's universal, sort of like steve mcqueen in a sailor's suit? crimony. lots of cats talk to me about stuff - one wants to know about my connect w/the kelly blue book people cuz of a spiel I did for econolines a bunch of years ago. that's a trip! very kind man though, comes to see me play butlloads, much respect to him. michael fursa's here, a friend of charley plymell who I love dearly. we both worry cuz he got scratched by one of those wild little ones he takes care of up in cherry valley... hol has a big home drive to huntsville so she says bye and I hope things are safe for her. will hamilton has invited us to konk at his pad in canton, a 'burb way north which means like an hour driving but really happening w/can avoid big hell stau w/atlanta traff tomorrow morning. he follows to make sure we get there ok and so very glad that's what happen, 'pert-near one am. the one hour ain't wasted just as those four tunes that gave us trouble were cuz mike uses the time to reorganize/rethink all four of them - VERY productive especially when we're gonna record them in 'pert-near a week! crimony. very good spiel from mike for both me and hodge, very happening. before you know it we're there but I am so tuckered that I just piss and get in my nightwear soon as the air mattress is inflated right by will's front hatch, no energy to spiel, must konk - we got ten am pull anchor tomorrow, thank you bassbrother will! friday, october 27, 2023 - nashville, tn from mike: Too short time with Will Love that guy so much, but that's Tour, we working... Traff ok to Nash this pad is pretty fancy Premier guitar vid In Place sounds great and Vicious Fishes too, JayVe Jeff and Joel join us! from hodge: the blue room is one part of jack white's compound, a virtual oasis of a venue for the touring musician. beautiful vibe and decor and the room you play the music in is blue. lots of good vibe and professional folks running the place. we had three tenor saxophones sitting in with us on the first number of our set "baby ghost" the crazy waltz where i play the downbeats with the chain. from watt: pop at 'pert-near seven, will's gotta take his son miles to school and then cooks us up scrambled eggs and bacon along w/grapes and berries, so kind of him. hodge pops and begins two hour in-depth discussion w/him while I chimp diary in another room (still not far away enough though not to get 100% spiel-bath) 'til it's time to shove off at ten but delay of game by my tardy ass delays that ten minutes, damn me. very happening weather here for us to say bye to a most kind will, a more kind man I know not of - love him big time! we take what little stuff we need to get to the big I-20 interstate west and then on to I-24, much construction and - you guessed it - many pendejos pretending they ain't using their leashes and coches at the same time... I think mike is correct about that being a big reason turn signals ain't being used, it's cuz they holding their leash and doing distracted-endager-the-rest-of-us freedom option. crimony. at about quarter of noon I cross us into tennesseee and soon we're cetnral time zone - we gain back that hour we lost earlier in the tour... then we got a little bit of georgia before saying bye bye to that state 'til next time and back into tennessee (state borders are trippy around here w/the interstate)... I get us on I-24 west to nashville... then stop us at a "spirit" gas station after just passing chattanooga, the pumps got that "no ethanol" scam that mike DOES NOT fall for - like sixtysix cents difference ($3.70/gallon is what is w/10% ethanol)! crimony. I take the tine to chow 'dines w/eggs bassbrother will hardboiled for us - how does he get them to peel so easy, no heavy membrane to make that tough? the brother's got technique. I chow them both w/that "liquid summer" salsa from tallahassee. onward, I get us west on I-40 and am glad we supposed to get here early cuz nashville traff is as bad as the worst anywhere else in the u.s. - very aggressive drivers still, let me tell you... not all but some are real peckerheads, fuck that.  anyway, I drop anchor at third man records at one and a half, "arrive alived" and much relieved. the gigpad for tonight is in this place, called "the blue room" and we do the load-in quick. we soundcheck w/soundman squbbie a little longer than usual cuz we run those four tunes mike gave us the talk about last night on the way to will's: "super dumb," "tiny pipes," "boat song" and "despair and hilarity" - whoa, some big changes but I think the band can do it! right after is a spiel for premier guitars w/ted drozdowski - I ain't seen him in a buttload of years, whoa. him and the two man crew filming it are really happening though and it make big time painless. he wants to talk about the wattplower bass, the bergantino amp stuff and the couple of pedals I use in between. it's more about how I use them to help me express music more than just the stuff themselves which I dig. 'pert-near everything I gotta modify to the way I use them, none of the stuff is ever contemplated to be resold when I get it, I just ain't that way w/the stuff I use for music. I think it comes from jamming econo, I really do - stuff I use has to be really practical and ted focuses on that - he's got no prob w/learning me putting casters on my speakerbox are to decouple it from the deck for a tighter bottom while at the same time make it easier for me to schlep and also serve as a walker! truth be told. after I go in this other area of the "compound" and who's there to say hi to me - it's ben from the dritbombs, whoa! he says he runs this place, takes me to his "stooges office" - crimony, one whole bulkhead is an early photo of the stooges in a cornfield - the ENTIRE bulkhead! he's got so much stooges stuff, he shows me all these things he has like photos and - whoa, a check to dave alexander for a gig the stooges did... it's for twenty dollars (I shit thee not!) and it's w/a photo of ronnie...  he tells me all about the stooges at goose lake he put together when a tape of it was found... whoa, what a story - I'm hanging on every word, him talking w/henry, a man I worked w/for all those years I got to help the stooges - a man I very much respect... so glad he was there to work w/ben to get this out. crimony, me and ben could talk about stooges forever and we 'pert-near try to but his daughter violet arrives he's soon gotta do what's more important than spiel w/watt. before he bails he gets me jack white's last two releases - I tell him I first met jack when he was the drummerman for goober and the peas, it was in my fIREHOSE days. he also has lacey get me this boris "heavy rocks" album reissue they just did, a dan sartain (ben played drums w/him) 45 and a kid congo 45 - so kind to be so generous... I had no idea ben was here making stuff happen. everyone I meet working here is really happening, very kind... so glad I got to see a little. there's one man who knows all about matt swanson - a bassbrother I've known since he was in clockhammer - that was a nasville band I really dug. I'm tuckered though and wanna play good for the gig-goers tonight, mike and hodge so I go to the boat and konk and I mean really KONK... I'm out for like two solid hours. mike rousts me and I 'pert-near have a heart attack but I don't. he guides me to where we gotta be which is a simpler route than earlier - what? no matter, I am disappointed I missed the two openers but I was just so fucking beat. there are members though w/us on stage for the first tune... we got three tenor players, all nashville cats: jayve montgomery, jeff coffin and joel frahm - much respect! they give a spin to "baby ghost (from the 1900s)" that I have never heard before, really wild and I get so caught up in that I clam some notes - sorry mike! I get it together though and finish it strong... great way to start the set - and it's a good one, I really enjoy! even the stuff we're trying out has got good rewards I feel - scary but exciting! the nashville gig-goers are most kind, truly - hey, there's hol again! whoa. this band really makes every gig to me feel like I'm really alive, I never feel hardly like I'm just "doing the do" or crap like that. I feel vital and in the moment - can't thank mike and hodge enough for that, the cats at the gigs bringing the spirit too. crimony. hol helps me pack everything up, helps me w/the schlep to the new boat. real kind. benjy from spirt of hamlet is here too and get's the speakerbox where it needs to be, then the amp and finally the bass! him and his son abraham were one of the last ones in the old boat before its donate - they came to my pedro town and I gave them a tour of it via her, one of her last "missions" kind of though I didn't know that was to be. whatever, it went on a positive note cuz they dug the tour and I dug showing them. I get to meet benjy's wife, we talk about the pad john coltrane grew up in hight point - not far from where they live, crimony! we talk about the second time around we got planned for our proj and I suggest maybe the third one is where I come out and we do it live together maybe, might do gigs too - I would love it. love brother benjy. hol's got another hellride so I wish her safe seas - benjy too... you understand why I worry about people not taking driving serious - I want us safe! crimony. seat-belted at the wheel, one more request of watt: sign this man's "the sand pebbles" by richard mckenna book - you don't how happy that makes me... I wish everyone who dug what I'm wouild read this cuz I think then they'd have a better handle on what I was doing, I think they really would - I got a buttload of reasons I couild give but that might confuse we were supposed to konk w/buds of mike but yesterday he got word that covid19 hit them so I got a hold of my old friend elizabeth BUT... she got covid19 too - just this morning, crimony! she's a teach and another one "shared" it w/her, she says it's a variant called "eris" or something which trips me cuz you know about me and eris, correct? anyway, I could hear the hurt in her voice as we spieled... it's been a while so she wanted to know about my recent stuff. oh man. anyway, mike finds an air b on the east side and we head over there. this town has a weird part for me cuz of four years ago... yeah, four years and maybe five days ago... crimony. weird konk for me, weird konk... saturday, october 28, 2023 - water valley, ms from mike: Shorter drive today To the Crawdad Hole, I love The food at this pad Justin greets us, hi! Tim shows up, then Susan too! What a cool gig pad! Quick walk through the town I get to hear Bark. play great We play good for them from hodge: another great venue, water valley, mississippi population 4,000 what a great vibe and fine sounding room. they fed us shrimp and corn on the cob and sausage. made us feel very welcome. tim and susan's band Bark opened the show big sound for the two of them really spirited singing together, very much beautiful!!! we got to stay at there home for the night. tim made a great breakfast and lots of strong black coffee. after the gig we say on their deck under the full moon, talking music and such. in the morning it was back to the deck with the black coffee. the wind was blowing at times and it make the autumn leaves fall like rain once again very much beautiful. i was able to get a load of laundry done just in time to pull up anchor. last load i will need to complete the tour. from watt: pop at seven bells... get the coff going after figuring fucking machine - drip dry kind but all this bullshit to keep it from being simple? crimony. I get it going though, chow five will hamilton-hardboiled eggs from fridge (put there last night, happening idea) w/some olive oil poured on each along w/some black pepper over the sink - no fucking dishes and will hamilton's eggs peel cleaner than any others YET on this tour! crimony... much respect to him, he clearly has the touch... must be cuz he's also bassbrother? hmm... I go out to the new boat and see these leaves on the front fore port-side tire... it reminds me of the leaf I saw tumbling down so slowly the morning I was in the backyard of mrs elizabeth's pad, four years and five days back now... I had just heard the message on my leash from my sister melinda that our ma had died of a heart attack at eightyfour... it's a heavy for me to see these leaves on this tire - symbols big time packed w/meaning on so many levels w/me. crimony. 'pert-near wanna start cryring/bawling and I do inside but gotta keep it together cuz of in tour-mode and people are counting on me. my ma would want me there for them, I just feel that - we'd always talk about tour stuff, before and after... she knew it was a big part of my life and not some kind of "side show" trip to "service a lifestyle" or whatever - it was "my life" for a big part of the whole enchilada. I love my ma so much for that, never told me to quit and when I started chimping diaries, always read them. I started calling her on sundays from the road - the same day me and my sister melinda would chow breakfast w/her when I was home. crimony. we pull anchor at ten - the time we gotta be out of this pad cuz remember it was a last minute thing cuz of the sitch and mike had to scramble. grateful for it being safe for us and the new boat. happening weather again, so lucky in this home stretch of the tour. we get out of nashville w/out too much traff BUT w/too many pendejos driving like, fucking pendejos. mike is amazed by the same scenarios we witness EVERY FUCKING DAY on this tour. assholes. west on I-40... finally: mike sees a motorhome/trailer w/a ladder on a ladder - he's been ALL TOUR to see one these! used to be seen all the time... 'til it wasn't! crimony. forty minutes past bucksort (twenty of noon) I pull us over at a "marathon" station to fuel the new boat. $3.20/gallon... I chow some of the starkist "mediterranean style" 'dines w/the "liquid summer" sauce. back on I-40 west, we pass the turn off for shiloh and of course d boon had us minutmen stop there - a lot of woods... a lot of people died, never again please. just before memphis we turn south and I get us over into mississippi at one and a half. we end up on ms-7 south, getting past oxford and in water valley about twenty of four. trippy but this part of the driving was much calmer than lots of the rest, much calmer - I am most grateful, truly. the gigboss justin is there to greet us at the crawdad hole - actually we're playing in place they recently set up for gigs in another part of the pad which used to be a gas station, "voyagers' rest" is the part our gig's at tonight. justin is real cool people and I get to talk about william faulkner - I can't tell you much I loved his "light in august" book - I was helping the stooges out in 2005 when I read this (scroll down july twenty here) and it blew my fuckin mind. real good for me though, my mind pretty much at that point had to be blown. can't thank mr faulkner enough and same w/the stooges. crimony is life a trip. we so a soundcheck w/justin and finish just as tim from bark (tonight's opener) arrives, really nice cat, gonna dig this gig. I chow tamales - yeah, mississippi tamales that got ground turkey in them and louisiana hot sauce in packets for salsa - they real good! so are the hot links and shrimp - they're made here, line of cars in the drivethrough to get them. I go to the boat and konk. it's sweaty but I get some good rest. I listen to bark, drumme/singerlady sue and tim make real bitchin music together and I really dig it, helps me get lit for the gig. nothing more generous for a music cat to do than get another one lit w/their expression, you know? amen. out turn is at nine. I really dig this gig - some tunes really had problems, something strange but other stuff we had together and along w/the water valley gig-goers, it made for a good feeling in me. the strange things that happened were just that for me: strange and didn't really know where they were coming from, stuff w/me and hodge and not really being together - chimping that here w/out really trying to lay blame but just relate how the gig was. there was lots though to make me love it and I would say "net gain" if forced "testify" or whatever. mike will let un know what we gotta do w/mssv in this last week of touring coming to get ready for the album to recorded a week - yes, A WEEK from tomorrow. we can do it! I schlep and stow my own gear tonight, no prob. one gig-goer wants to do my bass so I let him do that - he calls me a "navy brat" when I tell him I'm in pedro cuz of him being in the navy which feels weird cuz it sounds kind of fucked up. I tell him my pop used to joke "if the navy wanted me to have a family, they would've issued me one" - I wonder what he thought of that? I felt kind of reduced to some kind of "thing" when he said that, kind of bummed me out. he prolly just was repeating something he was told... I told him I used my pop's life in the navy as part of my way of coming to terms w/losing someone, for me it was losing d boon and actually my pop also (cancer got him in nine months in 1991). I told him how my pop only saw me play once but he was smiling at the end real big and even let us konk at his pad. I tell this guy about "the sand pebbles" and how it was written by a guy who was a machinist mate - my pop was a machinist mate. I should've maybe talked w/more people (young man dylan drove from new albany!) - I did sign a bunch of stuff... I was most grateful for everyone we got to play w/tonight, for getting to share the stage w/bark and playing justin's pad. I just don't like a "navy brat" - I feel kind of like a sailor - my pop said I was like a sailor when he got all the postcards I was sending him from tour... that's where I got the idea from for my first opera, it was from his life in the navy... I was his son though so what could I know? I know many times he would hug me up, hug me up real big and say "my son, my son, my son" - even when I got older... I always dug that, always. he never made me doubt that, never. I'm the son of a sailor. I'm d boon's bass player. I dug mr faulkner's "light in august" book very much. so glad I got to play here tonight. mike guides my to susan and tim's pad not too far away and it's got a real nice feel. I am tuckered big time. I hose off and get into my nightwear. I konk real quick after. sunday, october 29, 2023 - birmingham, al from mike: Breakfast MacGyver Has the morning off, Sonny Boy also missing We head to Saturn Taco pad is closed (what?), so Salads for all here Jody knows Tim Lee! We need better eyes on stage Pep talk is given from watt: pop at seven bells... go piss and check email - look what mike sent me, something he got from lewis porter regarding john coltrane's "a love supreme" piece: coltrane... last of his note pages - I knew a bunch of this stuff but of course not all, even if I read about it before, it's been a constant learning for me to get things together about mr coltrane, bof his music and his life cuz I find them bof inspiring and really interesting. the stuff that goes into a composition, into even a tune, you know? love tripping on that stuff... when I think about my stuff, it's such trippy tangle of things sometime that lead to what I end up bringing. well for sure I'm think john coltrane was thanking god for helping him get healthy. that's inspiring for me right now, crimony! tim cooks us up some scrambled eggs, bacon, grits and hash browns and I chow it on him and susan's backyard porch that's got the greatest "gig" going for me now w/the birds singing. this backyards got bunches of trees and deck I'm on itself has buttloads of little cactuses, each all in little pots. the weather is like my pedro town and the little cactuses make me think of their too. tim gave me bof his salsas, "cholula" and "yucateca" - xmas colors! 'pert-twenty years now w/using hashi for me so I give the fork back to him. bof him and susan are most kind, truly. we all talk in the kitchen about weather in different parts. I am so spoiled w/my pedro town I try to time my tours so those parts involved might have some of that when we play them! I chimp diary 'til eleven and a half cuz that's when we shove off. I am such a baka I forget that I had tim and susan's band bark on my show already and the connect in fact was mike - crimony, a big time senior moment! anyway, I tell them I would like them on again when they get new music recorded - susan said she's gonna start playing bass again! she said she had to stop cuz she couldn't play anymore standing up (why she moved to drums) but seeing me last night play sitting down she said gave the idea to try it herself! well, alright. bye bye to tim and susan 'til next time, great people!  back north on ms-7 'til we get up to I-22 and start heading east, a little backtrack for the tour... you usually don't like to do this but sometimes the way the days of the week fall in your planning kind of makes this have to happen. it was way worse in the old days when options were way fewer so I don't mind. the weather's real good, we luck out again. at two bells I pull us over at peppertown and mike fuels the new boat at a "marathon" where the heads are way in the back but that's ok. he don't get "fueled" (fooled) by the sixty cent difference w/the "no ethanol" scam and $3.00/gallon. I get some boiled peanuts, I like them and it'll prolly be only ones of the tour. a half hour later we cross into alabama - tomorrow mississippi will be a "transit state" for us. some dangerous shit w/a clown pulling a giant horse trailer (later we see him off the road on a leash and yammering) but pretty much more calm, maybe cuz it's sunday? four bells when I get us into birmingham and over to saturn on the east side, by what was pretty industrial... the town's way more medical now, not much steel stuff. love this pad, paradise will arrive when all gigpads are like saturn - they got the konkpad built right in and in fact I can pull the new boat right inside a garage for security, fucking right on. we soundcheck w/daniel and then mike goes foraging for chow... the taco pad he was thinking of has already closed so him brings me back a greek salad from somewhere close and it's real good. I chimp diary and wait for the opener jody nelson on the tv - there's a tv in the backstage/konkpad that you can the stage from but I learn from mike later NOT ALL the stage... I guess jody set up on the side and I missed his whole set - damn me for being so stupid. our turn is nine and I hobble down to the gigroom... hol's here w/her daughter ruby - fourth gig this tour she's seen me this tour, huh? crimony. also here is animator kevin w/cleve's window myra - crimony. they played his piece featuring cleve and me just before mssv went on. whoa, gotta play good for her! we bring the set and it's a good one - forgot to say at soundcheck we tried out a lot of stuff mike talked to us about last night and in fact he said he had some "eureka moments" during the check w/how he'd like hodge to both hold time (like w/the kick) but the have no time (everything else) simultaneously! whoa. these are for the new tunes we're gonna record sunday. sometimes it takes a tour to develop this kind of stuff, correct? however, for this set, some of it goes out the window... these ideas gotta be more absorbed by hodge. he can do it though, I know it. I get upset at one of them only cuz the tempo was too fast and we a communication but a talk about it RIGHT after the gig - right in front of everyone (we don't care about that stuff) gets stuff straightened out. the birmingham gig-goers were very supportive, very much. hol and ruby help me pack up but no schlep cuz we'll do that in the morning. they got a hour drive to huntsville but before the bail they advise me to find a costume/mask one of those econo "dollar stores" for tuesday in houston cuz it'll be halloween and I always like to do a halloween gig wearing something cuz for me halloween is special cuz it's the only day we admit we DO wear costumes. crimony. some bassman is kind of early, a local cat I can't remember his name now (damn me) in a santa suit. whoa. he has very kind words for me, love connecting w/bassbrothers, love it! the konkpad's in "stumbling distance" so I hobble up the stairs and it ain't too long before I konk... we got some fucking hellrides coming up (last three gigs) and I wanna be my healthiest. I hose off and get in my nightwear - mike gives us a little debriefing and it's a good one, no wasted spiel and to the point, focused. music stuff too, nothing personal which I think is real smart. he's a good band jefe. I konk 'pert-near right after we find out how to get all these lights off. monday, october 30, 2023 - new orleans, la from mike: Thanks Brian! Wow We sure love playing Saturn Street eating for brek Never been down to New Orleans before - really Want find Congo Square Great tacos - Congo Gates are locked after sound check But great gig.. and Rob! from watt: pop at twenty of seven, chimp diary for yesterday. had very strange dream where I was running (yes, not hobbling!) in this strange race, passing other runners! crimony. so glad I popped when I did cuz it was kind of terrifying. ok, in this last stretch of the we got a buttload of hellrides so diary chimping might get hit hard but I'll do my best. it really does help keep it together for me to. later hodge gives me more he's done - I dig all three voices and not just boring-ass watt yammering away... nine bells and no padboss brian yet (mike said brian said he'd bring us bfast chow) so we decied to start loading up the boat - need the hatch to this pad opened though but luckily the coff pad hooked on to this whole enchilada has someone w/the llave to make that happen and the load-in begins... just then padboss brian arrives w/chow - a train crossing a road forever held him up... just glad he's ok. me and him talk and catch up. he told me his hardest tour ever was last summer doing drums for man or astroman cuz bof hands of his got real bad carpal tunnel - I told him joe baiza's had two surgeries for that and bof didn't work so watch out... I told him what's helped me w/joint stuff is scissoring a lot of inflammation crap via scissoring sugar - it really has worked for me, blows my fuckin mind. he's got some chow for me, most kind him... it's toast (whoa, some of the only toast I've chowed all tour - have had hardly any bread), scrambled eggs, bacon and grits that got cheese in it. you know, once in a while stuff like is no prob w/me, none. I think the body digs variety in fact is my experience. it's the big picture way of chowing I think that's more important. so good to see and rap w/brian again, love doing gigs for him, love it. his saturn pad too - it'll be paradise when all gigpads match up w/his, I shit thee not. we pull anchor at five after ten and get on the interstate pretty soon, taking I-20 west. the windshield is so fuckin filthy, it's kind of dangerous to drive. this ain't hodge's fault - our gas stop yesterday was at a pad that had squeegee stuff, fuckin lame. NOT hodge's fault, he's been MOST righteous about keeping our glasswork pristine, love his work ethic and much respect to him. anyway, it ain't two hours yet but we gotta get this taken care of and 'pert-near at half-tank w/the fuel so why not do that also, mike gases up the new boat for $2.83/gallon at "one 9 fuel depot" I pull us off at ten miles ahead of tuscaloosa. rolling once more, I ask mike to find on the internet the second pere ubu album, "dub housing" which he finds and plays over the new boat system via his leash. he digs it. we cross into mississippi twenty after one - bye bye alabama 'til next time. at medirian (where peavey got started) we continue on I-59 towards hattiesburg (played there last mssv tour) while the I-20 part continues west... I ask mike to find red craola's "soldier talk" on the internet (he finds on youtub.com), just to turn him on to it, turns out he loves it. crimony! all this stuff from watt's late 70s music mike is getting foisted on him but he seems ok w/it, so glad in a way cuz it lets him I think know other sides of me w/out just spiel "explaining" it. crimony. twenty after three - road too bumpy so I pull us over at off ramp for pearl river to piss (people: NOT to piss in any river - I don't do that - it's the name of the town) - I use the bottle but it was half-full and that's asking for it as far as a drive and piss sitch. I till the bottle way on the side of a "circle k" - we don't need fuel so I fill and feed the nearby grass... a more smoov road and I could prolly do ok but I ain't no tom watson - that cat can fill to the brim - no fuckin bubbles, g! I don't how he shuts it off the way he does. back on the interstate, we take the causeway from slidell over lake pontchartrain and get to the gigpad just after four - the gigboss jack's got cones out for right-in-front parking, yatta! the weather is gray skies but no humidity, NONE - sort of like my pedro town! we're in the marigny part of town and the gigpad's one I ain't played before, it's called siberia and everyone here is real nice. me and the gigboss jack talk after the load-in, he tells me he lives on a boat on lake ponchatrain. we talk about this horrible pile-up on I-55 a couple days ago, like 160 cars and seven people dead. fuck. consequences of pendejos driving like pendejos, not cool. I chimp diary and damn if right outside the new boat I hear this "tour guide" giving a tour for this group of "new orleans tourists" (they're young people, like a dozen of them)... I learn that this gigpad is like ten years old and has gone through a few different owners. so trippy to hear (I peak out behind my curtain - half these cats on the tour have drinks in their hands - the "guide" has a bottle of "topo chico" - crimony! I love that stuff), this cat next learns these people about the murals that are painted all over, talks about these parts slowly rebuilding after the katrina nightmare. I then clip toenails - had to be done to get fucking socks on. I hardly wear shoes/socks in pedro, I wear settas mainly and never wear socks w/them. anwyay, when this "tourist trip" moves on, I pop the hatch and mike comes out (coincidence) w/the chow he's found us, tacos from nearby - right on. soundman corey ain't ready for us yet so I chow mine. trippy, no mexican taste but I still enjoy... even w/lettuce in them - not like "baka hell" lettuce though - however, tortillas are a little tough. I feel them healthy on me though... two months of aunthentica style tacos mostly have kept watt healthy on this tour - I can't thank mike enough, CAN NOT! after soundcheck I get a good rap w/my old buddy rob cambre who I first met int the late 80s in baton rouge when he was a lsu college student... great cat and productive musician, both playing AND putting on gigs of wayout music. respect. gigboss jack told me earlier he really digs rob's guitar playing. we catch up big time, great news about our buddy in common a.p. (joe baiza buddy also), great to hear. rob's gotta bail and will be back later, he knows I gotta konk too... I show him the new boat and then I fucking konk really deep and hard. crimony. these hellrides can blast me some, huh? w/that kind of stuff I find there is NO "unpaid piper" involved, none. I guess there was a band before us but I have no idea (they were painted hands, I get told later), I pop a few minutes of our quarter after ten - how does that happen, especially after a real hard konk? crimony, you wanna talk about "tour mode" or what? it's like in my body as much as it's in my head! mike comes to roust me, surprised to find me popped! says w/got six minutes... three minutes to go I'm out the hatch and into the gigpad's (love getting parking like this for so many reasons!) and up on stage, we're ready to go right on the minute! we bring it for the new orleans gig-goers and they're much respectful, really they are. we're in the "baloney seat" by which I mean there was a band before us and one after so mike scissored "pillow talk" from tonight so we don't bogart (hodge will do the same w/his drum solo in our encore later). we have good connect w/each tonight as well as good connect w/the gig goers, something I really dig. some of the new tunes w/their latests approaches are a little shaky but that's part of the risk of working things out in public and I believe big time worth it. I got a sore thumb on my port-hand side and not the thumb itself but rather in the joint where it connects w/the hand. trippy... I wonder where that came from... wasn't there last night or before. it doesn't interfere w/my playing but I notice it... I try to notice all trippy things the same way while I'm driving on the road and listening for sounds that sound unusual - always trying to be aware and catch stuff before it develops into a bigger hell. I enjoy tonight's gig a lot, can't thank mike and hodge along w/the new orleans gig-goers enough... same w/soundman corey being our fourth man for tonight and gigboss jack for getting this whole thing lit. such a collab a good gig! I tell you I think that big konk right before helped, really helped big time. there's a band after us so we clear the stage really quick - we owe that to them... I believe all bands at a gig should work together just like driving on the same road deserves the same co-op spirit, amen to that. we put into prac tonight - not just off the stage but loading the new boat as well - crimony, maybe our fastest load ever, I shit thee not! rob helped me w/me getting my speakerbox off the stage. a great cat named smokey from so cal that does music now here first takes direction and gets my stuff (speakerbox and amp in the back, bass in the side) stowed real good and the raps to me about being a kid in anaheim and finding where georgie lived in pedro so he and his buddy could pedal their bikes fuckin all the way there and back. crimony! he knows peetzo, my secondmen organman when he played for bourbon jones - knew the long beach blues scene downtown and stuff... fuckin small world, huh? crimony. a bass cat comes up to my window w/me strapped in behind the wheel to relate this story of writing "no hoop, no hope!" on the back of flyer to him in my fIREHOSE days and he took it to heart - I was using bball for a metaphor for bass (that's what it was for) and he's still working it! much respect. rob's got a buddy name gianna who's most kind to let us konk at her pad a couple of miles away, real nice one built in 1911, new orleans style w/real high overheads in the room. I hose off in righteous olde-timey "shower-in-the-tub" and then get in my nightwear, it's 'pert-near coming up on one and mike has agreed to my shove-off at nine request for tomorrow so quick I'm out, soon as I get done thinking of my talk w/tom watson earlier today via leash... spaced on mentioning that like a baka, so sorry... tuedsay, october 31, 2023 - houston, tx from mike; Thanks Gianna! Great sleep Lake Ponchartrain is quite large Bayou, like swamp land Houston gig pad cool Full of crazy stuff, also Campfire smoke though, hmm... I find good cat mask What is Hodges' costume... hmm...? Good gig, good people from watt: pop at six and swallow coff after pissing, chimp diary 'til eight and then spiel w/most kind hostlady gianna about her music connects - she does much work helping experimental musicians, lots she mentions I haven't learned about yet but one I know of big time: wadada leo smith - admire this musicman incredibly! got to see him live once w/at gig in a pad in encino where it was a collab w/him and one of his proteges motoko honda that blew my fuckin mind, I shit thee not. really inspiring for me, really inspiring. so glad gianna can help w/people like that, I think it's very important stuff and wish her the3 best as she keeps ok keepin on... we shove off at nine and it's gray and a little rainy but not bad. just before I get us on I-10 west we pass a prince hall temple on orleans avenue:  I-10 takes us west out of new orleans, south of lake pontchartrain, the big water we came into town across that big causeway from the north in slidell yesterday. then we're across bayou country on another causeway... bye bye new orleans.  once we're back on solid land, I notice the new boat's at 'pert-near quarter tank so I bring her at a "circle k" in laplace just before ten, mike fuels it up at $3.00/gallon while I fuel up on a can of oysters w/that "liquid summer" sauce. back on the road, the rain stops but the skies stay gray. which is ok. I talked w/tom watson via leash yesterday and he said his trip to houston (he got back on sunday) was real sweaty - man, can weather change, huh? the thermometer on the new boat reads as low as fifty! I got the yellow coat on. I ask mike to find "kangaroo?" on the internet via his leash (an album by art and language which was a mayo thompson proj from 1981) and he digs hearing this. alright. tom watson had to learn this stuff when he was helping w/mayo's 90s version of the red krayola - georgie was part of some of these lineups for gigs and recordings also. georgie and john mcentire in the same band, fuckin crimony! at a quarter of eleven we pass over the mississippi river for the last time this tour at baton rouge... twenty on one we're due for a piss stop and I wanna get away from the clump of assholes (unfortunately some of them are also truckers) that are making shit way fucking stupid and dangerous for nothing. "swerve to avoid" is the metaphor, correct? this "loves" at iowa (that's right, there's an iowa in lousiana!) has hard boiled eggs (four to a trip, I get one) while mike again fuels the new boat for $3.00/gallon. we pass into texas just before one and a half - bye bye lousiana. lots of contruction on I-10 in this part of texas, whoa. pays to be careful... guess what? I ain't gonna say it. well... mike points ouf some cats not even burying their leashes in the laps but holding right out in front of them as they "fake drive" the steel/glass/plastic/rubber" transportation device, oblivious - fucking oblivious to anything! when you're behind them it's 'pert-near obvious w/the yo-you hat dance speeds, the swerving in the lanes from one side or the other... people it's fucking total comedy if it was actually really sad and pathetic. the sun comes out more and more, the temp getting into the 70s but not high ones plus zero humidity, I'm digging that big time. quarter after three I get us into east downtown houston but then a stopped train blocks our way. after waiting a half an hour, I get all einstien and think about the freeway: there's no railroad crossings, they cross over them! so I get us back on I-10 going whence we came and then take the belt I-610 'til it connects w/north I-45 and use that as a workaround. we get to the gigpad just after four, whoa, 'pert-near seven hour trip to do 350 (plus whatever train workaround) miles to we had to do and "arrived alive" w/sun shining, nice pedro-like weather. yes! gigpad helper jason greets us and let's know where to drop anchor for the night, right out front. the gigpad's called super happy fun land and I'm told the building's like and hundred and something years old, it's last incarnation was a factory that made cash registers... much these days - not a cash register in sight but different stuff in different parts... on area has a buttload and I mean a buttload of raggedy ann dolls, another has those monkey dolls made of socks - right by the hatch there's a buttload of mannequin heads and damn if one has this mask for the eyes that I might be able to use to costume myself (tonight is halloween and I always love to do halloween gig in some kind of costume/mask) for the gig but what immediately puts a trippy image in my mind is the hat this head's go on... it reminds me of that episode in "twilight zone" ("it's a good life") where a young billy mumy plays this young child proto-fascist type who's terrorize a group of adults... one of him has had it and tries to stand up to him and this character billy mummy's playing "puts him in the cornfield" - you see this man's head w/out his body on a spring next transformed into a hideous jack-in-the-box and wearing this kind of fucking hat (watch here at the 3'13 mark), the first time I saw it I was traumatized big time, the image forever branded into my psyche. crimony. so, I've found what I'm gonna wear tonight. a nice man who somehow works here also brings some cheese and crackers for us to chow, very kind of him. I meet soundman don who is very cool people and we talk about the old days of houston music I was part of and also stuff before me, like reading about mccoy tyner talking about the time he was playing on a festival that had lightning hopkins on the same bill as him john coltrane (the band w/him, jimmy and elvin as well) and him saying how john coltrane was really astonished by watching mr hopkins... now john coltrane had buttloads in his playing always but I think maybe he never saw a bluesman like that before - man, what I've give to be there then, tripping on him trippin on this cat really brining it. crimony, ain't music special, people? crimony! we check w/soundman don and then I go to the boat to chimp diary, mike bring me tacos when he finds some - ones I dig much. I think konk hard for a couple of hours easy. this tour as it ends up has got me a little spent and these konks before I play REALLY help me do them better than I'd be otherwise, let me tell you, it'd be a real hard go. before the konk, I throw out the basura and meet a cat on his bycyle, a musician name reynard who says he knows of me... wants to rap but he has to go to the store... real nice man. I am so beat - best I konk in the new boat now. crimony, I think that was 'pert-near three fuckin hours... I prolly needed it.I think there was two openers - don't even really know how I know that. crimony. anyway, obviously I missed bof of them (damn me) and w/in minutes, here's mike to tell me we got one minute. good thing I immediately fit myself w/the mask and the hat, using some of the yellow duct tape to make the "chinstrap" for the hat making the fit more firm. I put my glasses in my jacket pocket cuz they won't stay on w/the mask, especially w/out the port-side silicon ear piece I donated weeks ago like a total baka. I hobble through the gig-goers and make my way on stage, everything very blurry but still doable. however, when we bring the gig I am disoriented for our first tune which is really baka cuz I don't look at my hands anyway for this or any of for that matter cuz I got them down pretty much down which is the way I like it cuz I think it's the best way for me to bring to people, my best way to bring... maybe not for learning so much but sure for gigs, I feel my best that way. ok, I get over all fucking buttloads of clams I'm blowing and get it it together and finish the tune strong. some of the houston gig-goers must've known something was untogether about the bass player at first - I can't see their faces clearly but I can kind of feel it. I focus big time to better here on out. I know I've been doing the set for many gigs - even since mike changed it up from alternating sets every night to one list that has all the upcoming tunes to be record - more than a week of that now but w/out being able to see cuz of no glasses, I gotta ask for some of the tunes audibly. crimony.  I don't really blow any more clams - I actually can hear kind of clearer w/out the vision part being so good, ain't that a trip? like my blind bassbrother up in montreal, huh? deprived in one area, another part becomes more sensitive maybe. I'm really grateful to both hodge and mike helping me, also the gig-goers doing real good to help make this a real happy halloween - maybe the only day all year we admit we DO wear costumes, huh? I enjoyed this gig much, I had a good time. maybe the hat fell back once but I think I got it righted not too longer. the playing a halloween gig costumed is important to me. I pack up my stuff which is a little slower cuz of the vision thing but still doable. david ensminger comes up and gives me his new book "roots punk" - it's got reprints of minutemen flyers in it! much respect to david always, a great writerman focused on getting the truth out there. hodge helps me w/getting the speakerbox off the stage and then I use it for a walker to get to the boat, stopping at the mannequin head where I "borrowed" tonight's get up and put back both the mask and hat were I found it. I then put on my glasses - YES, I can see more clear! most happening. a kind man name "rad rich" helps get my speakerbox in the new boat, he knows me from older houston gigs - I give him a big hug... this other guy (I think that was his name) does too, from gigs I did at "instant karma" which was a pad run by a cat from boston named mitch - people start tossing around the memories, so tripyy when you get that happening - fuck, that was doing my first opera days, in the late 90s! crimony. actually I think the first minutemen houton gig was put on by a cat named chuck roast but tom bunch did a bunch and a lot for fIREHOSE. actually there's all kind of kinds of different age cats here at the new boat, some real young ones and they give me some fanzines they've created, "watroid" and "cain's murder of abel" - they also got bands, bozos and gripe - love to see cats creating and expressing themselves, love it. one had me sign his "buzz or howl..." minutemen record and I explain bof how it cost only $50 (thank you spotksi (scroll down to fourt article which is a joe carducci piece on him) and ethan) but also about the art work, why geogie's head is wailing around on the label like a football. hey, there's reynard! he's on his bicycle again! I give him a big hug - maybe one day we'll get too play together? mike, hodge and miss hiyori are very patient, all waiting in the boat for me. I feel like an idiot... but they are kind - I think they realized these gig-goers deserved some spiel from watt... one of few times I wasn't already strapped behind the wheel and waiting for them to go! mike guides us to an air b I not too far away though there's a little time on the freeway (we witness the aftermath of a horrible fucking crash, really bad one taking out three lines - can't look) and then some surface street turns but we get there safe and drop anchor - fuck, it's after one. I hose off and get in my nightwear, time to fuckin konk... halloween is hecho todo. twednesday, november 1, 2023 - austin, tx from mike: Very good sleep, wow Almost caught up on rest / heal? Short drive today too Another good park Some walk around time downtown Uncle Doug rolls in! Really liked watching Mike play guitar, I think we play good for Dano from watt: pop ten of eight. get the coff going - they got a drip machine here and filters but no coff, miss hiyori has the coff I gave her way back in flagstaff, I shit thee not. I don't know if I could tour w/out miss hiyori, really don't know if I could... I think it's ten years now we've been touring together. crimony. last night I had this strange dream about these two bands (couldn't tell who they were) who wanna go on stage and do their gigs but want me to hold their money for them while they're on doing it. crimony. dreams can be so crazy. I spill their bones and on the ground they get mixed up... I don't know who's bills belong to who - I have huge dilemma - fucking drama! plus get this: ig's in it and for some reason he's showing me tattoos I've never seen him w/before - I think scotty was the only one w/a tattoo in the stooges, he told me he got during the "fun house" recording - it's that star one on his shoulder and couldn't find any place in hollywood so he had to go to the pike down in long beach to get it. crimony. anyway, in this dream (fuckin nightmare actually), ig's showing me stuff I know couldn't be on him - you can't believe how relieved I was when I popped - you know how you think some dreams really ain't dreams and you gotta deal w/what's going on in them? this was one of those motherfucker and I felt the weight of ages life on me when I got fucking free of it, popping into consciousness, way fuckin grate and like I said: relieved. relieved fuckin big time. I shave the fucking hige off my face, I want it clean and it feels good, feels smoov. there's a rooster crowing... and crowing... and crowing - I don't mind cuz I like that sound, wish I could see it... trippy crowing at noon? lots of people in my pedro town have chickens. our weather here in houston today is like pedro, love it!. we shove off at noon. I got a lot of good diary chimping in and this is gonna be our last shorter drive cuz our final three are gonna be close to five hundred (actually one is 520, crimony). I get us on I-10 west, quota for pendejo observations/avoidance gets filled quick. lots of construction too so do we all be careful? fuck no! at one and a half I get us off at columbus and mike fuels the new boat at $3.00/gallon, I chow those wild caught 'dines w/some tobasco I get to replace the now gone sauce I got back in tallahassee, some chunks of dill pickle in it too outside by the pump. for here we get to to tx-71 and take it to la grange (that la grange) and continue to austin on it, getting to the gigpad just after three, getting the best parking place we could've - it really pays to get in early. this pad I ain't played before, called the13th floor but it's right around all kind of pads I've played, very familiar austin neighborhood for me. I get some konk while the rest of us wander. mike comes back w/tacos, good ones w/handmade tortillas and great habanero salsa, love em. six bells and the load-in is like that cuz of the parking sitch. I like the layout of this pad and there's a 13th floor elevators mural by tim kerr - we did a split single last year w/his "up around the sun" proj on one side doing a tune I wrote for the minutemen ("history lesson part II) and me + my secondmissingmen on the other doing a big boys one ("we got soul"), love that man. we do soundcheck w/soundman luke and prac a few of the new ones we're still developing, even w/the recording coming this sunday and monday. crimony. I then go back to the boat but right before at the chow trailer selling halal gyros, I get a falafel wrap cuz I just love falafel w/that salad they put w/it - pickles included and spicey sauce! love it much. I konk real happy. I pop though way before we play and for some reason make my way to the gigpad and find the openers, local cats fausto/faustito and are digging them big time, standing right by the guitarman mike molnar and thinking about what d boon would think at the same time I'm digging what he's bringing, especially these fist tunes where the drummie developed these soft parts that let you really hear the bassman glue things up, really dig their animals' "we gotta get out of here" instrumental. this really kicks things up for me, gets me lit for our turn.  our turn tunrn out to be very happening, big thanks to the austin gig-goers here tonight who really bring, very kind focus/spirit right there w/us and for us so we give back - I get to play right in front of my dear old friends dano and patrice... play big time tonight for them. they live in san antonio now after so many years in houston, so glad they're here tonight, truly I am. glad for everyone here giving us a real good time and we try and give it back hard as we can. big love to the austin gig-goers and the cats working this pad, really happening.  the fausto/faustito guitarman mike helps me w/getting my speakerbox shipshape into the new bass along w/my amp and then my bass, we has some good spiel and other cats come up to join us. I get those cans uncle ray gave us to someone who wanted my hat... please understand that hat ain't a fashion statement - I gotta wear to keep the sun off my port-side here that has scar tissue resulting from a 1987 burn that gets really unhealthy when it gets too much sun - even through the port-side window when I'm driving. in fact the last couple days I've had to use hydrogen peroxide to stop some lameness that started happening... caught it quick though and put that fire out. I get to hug dano once more big time and he gives me his big punk button, love it and am gonna keep in here always. can't wait to see him again, patrice too - hopefully in their new san antonio pad where dano's got a record store at the cornpound! a real good night tonight, we gotta get south a little bit in austin to jd and sarah's pad. a little scary cuz of some people really dangerous and 'pert-near clipping us... so scary mike keeps quiet so I can focus real hard on the safe part - we'll save the debriefing for tomorrow. we pass the exit for "ben white" which is where I'd get off to konk over at spostki's... I sure loved that man... so good to see jd and sarah again, it cheers me up... I got good news to share w/them about my better health and yammer a little bit about but jd and sarah are way worth it and I'm so glad to be here to tell them good stuff about watt and his health. jd in fact is one of the cats that inspired me to get on this road I'm on, a great gift music is, let me tell you. I hose off, get in the nightwear and feel way good. it might be a little late for me but I feel like it's totally worth it, totally. thursday, november 2, 2023 - marfa, tx from mike: Again too short time With JD and Sarah, boy Not enough of time Watt drives across TX I find the tacos, easy No need for drama Cold outdoors gig, and many talkers out here, but we play good, despite from watt: pop at ten before seven, we're gonna start doing the 430 miles we gotta make to get to marfa, way in the west of texas. jd makes us up some good coff, sarah gives us some good healthy stuff for our journey, beautiful cats - can't wait to hear the their next many birthdays incarnation... will have them on my show next in january, jd on guitar! there's morning austin morning traff to wade through to get to us-290 and then that's pretty plug city for a while, also lots of construction - there's tract home/strip mall plans for towards the hill country! westward... pretty kitsched up in johnson city, right down lady bird lane, same w/a little more deutsch trip w/fredricksberg... around ten-two I pull us over at harper at a "waldo" version of "vallero" for fuel (fuck, forgot to get the price, tonto watt!) where I get a jar of "extreme hot pickle bites" - NOT - well, they're pickles... outside by the pumpI put some on a can of 'dines - last can from dave from c-level in cleveland and chow that for desayuno. a half hour later we're on the I-10 for the next two hundred miles... I ask mike to find "colossal youth" by young marble giants and he finds that along w/stuff I ain't heard before - trippy. it's his first time hearing them, more music from 1979 that watt was really listening to as it was coming out. mike spots a motorhome w/a ladder on a ladder at its aft - number two for the tour? NO, it's the same one he saw a few days ago... how does that fuckin happen? said he recognized the driver crimony. quarter of one we stop at another "vallero" just for pissing. I got to see young marble giants play in l.a. once, they opened for this band called cabaret voltaire - I ask him to find and play their first album called "mix up" - you guessed it, from 1979. I remember the first time I heard this I was tripping balls at martin's pad and 'pert-near lost my mind. crimony. I take us southwest at us-67 and we stop at the third "vallero" of the day, this one at alpine cuz mike wants to be fueled up (he pays $3.50/gallon) for tomorrow, this one's called "uncle's" (I don't name this stuff) and damn if it ain't piss-poor in the water for squeegee department and w/trash everywhere, crimony. for some reason I ask mike to find me a taylor swift song cuz honestly I might've heard her music but did realize it was her so I'm curious. he plays me "shake it off" and I like it, makes me think of some atlanta stuff like outkast ("hey ya") and tlc ("no scrubs") - not literally but just thinking about them cuz I like those tunes also. interesting. now when I read her name I got a sound to go w/it... lots of times that don't happen and w/music, that's kind of lame I think. ok, I get us at tonight's gigpad planet marfa at four after four. good parking right in front where will do the load-in, yatta! my first time in this town, tom watson and karen schoemer are bof excited for me to play here. I meet the gigboss, his name is david and gives me a "topo chico" which is very kind of him. the weather is very nice, the whole trip has been most kind that way, I'm most grateful. our only outdoor for the gig, mike's gonna be our own soundman - like in opa-locka! he forages for some chow and brings us tacos which I dig - a little different but different's ok as long as it's healthy w/chow I think. it was a big big drive so I konk pretty hard. no time to really look around - maybe tom watson or karen schoemer would've liked me to do this but I gotta focus on tour so yeah, konk is what I gotta do, wanna do good for mike, hodge and the gig-goers - stuff that I'm kind of more in control of. mike rousts me out of big time strange deep konk... I dreamed I heard t-rex or someone playing t-rex? that was the trippy part of the dream or a trippy part - one I remember for sure - was I hearing actual t-rex or someone doing t-rex and HOW was I hearing it... were they in my face, was marc bolan in my face - it didn't sound like him but it did sound like his song... I thought I heard "life's a gas" cuz that tag part of the tune kept coming up and up again... fuck, I felt like I was some clown getting called up in class to deliver an answer to a question I spaced on hearing and now getting caught in the act of the fucked-up thing cuz I knew ("knew?" this was a fucking dream! crimony) I should've been paying attention... I started thinking ("thinking?" it's a fucking dream!) about a life is only so long and how stupid it is to waste any of it, trying to make ever moment count is a righteous thing - yeah, "righteous things" - I was thinking about righteous things and then about how marc bolan was my first rock star hero then how richard hell was my first punk hero - I had a marc bolan poster (bootleg one from the first concert I saw) on my bulkhead... had a richard hell picture on my bass (my first gibson eb-3) - fuck, mike rousts me for the gig, correct? I hobble to where we're playing... it's outside and it's cold now so I got my yellow coat on. we bring the gig. trippy seeing mike and hodge playing w/knit hats on - I think I got my hat on also but it ain't a knit one. there is bunch of yammering, I mean a buttload, like a sportsbar. kind of a test for the band, I think... I think the band does good considering the sitch - I change one of my lines in the bridge of the "boat song" and change my delivery of some of "the eureka moment" words to fit how I feel would fit this turn of events... seems some gig-goers really want us to bring it while maybe we're interrupting some conversations for others? I don't know, I'm more concerned w/bringing what I can to mike and hodge for those who want us trying our hardest and I think we did that. a nice young man named jd (yeah, like jd in austin, trippy!) says he was in the first band and just to try and settle my mind about this I ask him - I feel kind of stupid asking - I ask him if he played any t-rex w/his band and he said he did! fuck. I can't believe it. I tell him this question might be crazy but was it "life's a gas" and he answers yes... so part of my "dream" actual was being informed by something really happening? fuck, I was so tired, I kind of didn't know what was what. he's very nice to me though, very nice. there's some other gig-goers here also like that. so kind of them. the yammering is still going though... actually a little lower (I shit thee not) then when we were playing but it's still going, on and on... I think of the clams I blew - I did blow some. the ground is too rough so I can't bring my speakerbox to the new boat but I bring everything else. get right behind the wheel and strap myself in soon as I can. someone parked right behind us but the car that was in front is now gone so I move to adjust, no prob. a nice man named jason who lives pretty close by has invited us to konk in his big art place. he's very kind. it's cold now. we gotta shove at eight again for an even longer hellride than today so I get in the nightwear pretty quick and soon I'm konked. friday, november 3, 2023 - tucson, az from mike: Thanks Jason for the Konk pad hookup, cool lil scene We do hellride 2! Meet Tom at gigpad Very cool and helpful guy! Taco guys... not cool Lots of good folks here! Websites, Golden Boots are great We play good, thanks Tadj! from watt: pop at ten of six... we got 512 miles to cover today so I wanna shove off at seven. there's some instant pho in the galley here I boil up water for, same time I find coff, filter and a drip machine to make it w/which I'm way into. I've never had "instant pho" before and of course it's lame as that "instant ramen" stuff: pretty much bullshit but it'll give me something for the first go at today's three-state schelp.  thirtyfive degrees when we pull anchor - yeah, just above freezing but beautiful clear skies and no real bridges to go over the first seventy-something miles which is on northwest on us-90. undivided road but not much traff - digging that!   hey, we actually find an "historical marker" we can not only find but also read it...this one's for the "van horn wells"... it's one of the things that has has been something that's really bugged us this tour: seeing a sign for a "historical marker" but then not being able to acually see the marker and then the one we did see was pointing at the sky, making it really hard to read passing by it. crimony.  I soon get us on I-10 west and this is gonna take us all the way 'pert-near to where we need to be to play the second to the last gig on this tour. real quick we gain an hour we lost at the beginning of the tour by moving in the mountain zone... mike spots that motorhome w/the ladder on the ladder - this is the same dude! I guess it was confusion yesterday but sill, how could we be going by this cat again? why no "ladder on ladder" sightings 'til now on tour? why? I know THERE MAY BE more important things going on right now but crimony, correct?  we're 'pert-near clipped by some pendejo cutting us off to get an offramp - right between us and a semi - totally fucking asshole move but like ishmael, we live to tell the tale. it pays to be fucking alert, let me tell you. mike spots many pendejos using leashes while pretending to drive, fucking disgrace. anyway, fort hancock's got only one gas station but you can tell hit's a real town cuz it's got a "dollar general" you can see from the freeway, correct? we don't need to fill up though, we need to let loose cuz it's the two hour mark since leaving marfa so I pull the new boat over at rest stop right before fabens and let everyone have at it. I got the bottle in the hatch pocket right next to me... smoov road just before el paso which I love, really REALLY smoov road w/grooves running parallel to the new boat's tires but then... over el paso - also ciudad juarez (only rio grande and border divides them this way): smog blankie covering these two together towns and then coming in through the vents of the new boat... my eyes: watereing, my lungs: choking. crimony. poor cats living on both sides of the river here, let me tell you.  we cross into new mexico at twenty after eleven - bye bye texas... trippy how there was much construction on I-10 when we came in from the east on tuesday and now much construction on I-10 leaving leaving... hey, I realize that's also exit 0 to exit 880 - crimony, a buttload of miles involved, huh?   seventy minutes later at deming I figure's a good time for fuel and a piss stop, I pull the new boat overs at a "chevron" (mike gasses up at $3.90/gallon) that's got a little store: "poncho's imports" and I get a little glass lemon from it cuz I love the yellow new mexico flag, right up there w/the blue south carolina blue flag. mike will later glue this to the dash of the new boat cuz a first attempt here fails big time. yes, even "super glue" is only so much hype. I chow 'dines from one of those cans I got in harper yesterday along w/a mouf-fuls of a pickle I just bought here and tobasco sauce.  mike's kind of doing what tom watson really had happening for the old boat, a full-on dash shrine. he's got the makings of it, an "artistic cube" handcrafted and given to me in ithaca, a tiny cleaver given to mike at some point, a rilakkuma kuruma from des from her recent trip to toko and a rilkakkuma gum holder that was actually from the old boat. you know, I got some stuff I saved from the old boat's dash shrine, maybe tom watson can take over from what mike's got started here? continuity, man - that's what it's about: we keep on keepin on... I get us back on I-10 west... throbbing gristle's "20 jazz funk greats" - yes another album watt listened to when it came out in 1979 but now I realize it's the year mike was born, crimony! that's really trippy but makes some kind of sense in a meaningful way... a lot of my music "sensibilities" were arriving then, a buttload of them arriving via records and also gigs - not arena rock ones like w/t-rex and blue oyster cult one (though I still dug their early records much) but w/club gigs up in hollywood w/the movement, it'd be a couple years now since I had be wailing on that stuff and really got into - by 1978 me and d boon even tried w/our reactionaries band though you couldn't prolly tell from listening to the tunes I was writing (d boon would not write tunes for the reactionaries and I think it was on purpose cuz I don't think he really liked that band, he was in it more as a favor to me), they were my first ones and didn't reflect the wide range of stuff I was hearing, there was a huge disconnect at first... it took time... ok, back to NOW...  a little after quarter after one we cross the continental divide (4,585 feet up but way lower here than on the I-40):     and I hold course on this road even though mike's "apple maps" app keeps advising other stuff that's way out of the way - why, to avoid the inspection station we go through after we get into 'zona? kind of baka... we cross the border just before two (bye bye new mexico), no prob at the inspection station... across the border also meant another timezone change - we gain another hour we lost earlier in the tour cuz acutally arizona doesn't use daylight savings time.  ok, we're in arizona - let's hear meat puppets! I have mike find my favorite album by them, one spotski recorded, "up on the sun" - damn if cris' bass on this album ain't a little like the bass we were hearing yesterday w/the young marble giants, huh? crimony! d boon loved curt's guitar playing really loved it... I dig the album so much, love hearing it w/mike, really do.  arrive two after two - YES! longest drive of this leg: DONE. "arrived alive" = mission accomplished! gigboss tom arrives just before three to open the load hatch and he invites us (not hodge cuz he's w/his son tadj who lives in this town) in and we rap - he is very cool people and knows buttloads about the old days - maybe not the oldest days but old enough and we have a good time... he has me sign his "double nickels on the dime" copy, prolly best record I ever played on, no prob and honored to do so... when you got a gigboss who's into it, man, it's a really happening thing, makes you wanna play that much harder, capito? this pad is in the "arts warehouse area" near downtown, a pad I've never played called 191 toole which (you guessed it) is its address! we check sound w/soundman cord and chow tacos mike has found for us from not too far away, I dig, real good. I go to the boat. I try to chimp diary but I am really beat and konk hard. damn me big time for missing the two openers golden boots and the websites cuz gigboss tom said he got them on the bill special for us, I just was just too tuckered - even to chimp a little diary, it was too much and konk took me. mike rousts me minutes before our nine and a half go-time... I gotta play good for hodge's son tadj - I told him I would, it's important - I mean really REALLY important. you would not believe the respect and focus shown to us here by the tucson gig-goers, what a 180-degree shift in experiences for us w/what we endured last night... nothing against where we played but talk about getting dealt a more different hand - and very glad to have that being the case! of course there's clams from us like every gig this tour but we do pretty good, I'm so glad we could bring hodge's boy tadj a good mssv gig, really am. I think tadj was the connect between gigboss tom and mike also, crimony! I really enjoyed this gig, really did. even though this setlist was for tomorrow, it's the last time we do it for this tour:  yes, hodge gets to do his last drum solo (it's between the stooges' "1969" and john coltrane's "equinox" in the encore) of the tour for his son tadj! much kindness right like that when we're done, I have cats come up on stage cuz they want pictures w/me, no prob. some bassbrothers too, much respect! I pack up my stuff and it's a real easy load-out for me... love the way this venue's got that together, same w/the parking sitch w/having the culo of the boat being able to be right on the hatch, much respect. I thank cord much for being our fourth man tonight - you CANNOT mix your band from the stage, just can't. there's another helperman named mike who I mistake like an idito for gigboss tom w/out his glasses on - so embarrassing but he says and it's happened before and he's got no prob taking direction and getting my speakerbox and amp in the new boat, I'm most grateful to him. right after out here in the parking lot, I get a lot of good word from lots of tucson gig-goers, very VERY kind. I sign several "double nickels on the dime" albums - whoa!  ...lots of other stuff too, much MUCH kindness from these gig-goers. c'mon, let's take pictures, I take pictures - well, not take them but be in the them! out by the boat, I rap w/a dancer from japan and her husband then we're joined by one lady who knows go-fast cars and a guy who's been to pedro, great twofer cuz I was way into dragsters when I came to pedro from virginia - this lady knows about bracket racing, yes - any race can be a intense fair one w/bracket racing. the guy knows the sardine, yes! I tell him I'll give him a tour next time he's in town. I'm even a member of the san pedro bay historical society though he'll be getting a strictly-watt-centric tour w/all the spiel that goes w/it. crimony. a friend of ours we had plans to stay w/couldn't make it happen so who comes to the rescue? hodge's son tadj, yatta! we get to his place and everything is so nice, put out the air mattress right in his front room and before I know, I'm fucking out cuz I am fucking tuckered BUT relieved we're safe. thank you tadj! saturday, november 4, 2023 - los angeles, ca from mike: Hodge and Tadj get time Tadj was clutch with konk pad change! Last hellride today Me, almost giddy Back in SoCal, and last gig But also sadness We go through so much Out here together in such compacted timeframe Tacos right next door! Jeremy, soundman, big help Peter and Tom come! Then Joe Baiza too! Ok - we have guitar jam On first and last tune! Great to see Chris Schlarb Allen, Steve Reed - holy smokes! Robbin and Ray too!!! We play good, despite Some things toppling on stage here "Nothing can go wrong" ...? I can't thank these guys And ms Hiyori enough To spend so much time On this music here With me, and to own it all So truly grateful from watt: pop at ten of six... I let everyone know yesterday I wanted a seven bells shove-off just in case there's hell-plug w/stau regarding so cal traff. everyone involved said they were into it. tadj has already popped and got the coff coming, most bitchin of him. his pop hodge soon also popped and prepared strawberries along w/scrambling eggs up for breakfast chow. I'm into it. outside the weather is most happening for us, we are truly blessed. we pull anchor at seven, bye bye tadj.  west on I-10 which for this part is actually northwest 'til we get to the phoenix area... damn if mike don't see another ladder on a ladder - what? all tour he sees none and now is this last week it seems like buttloads!  eight and a half and we're 'pert-near there - I've been dreading a plug in those parts but damn if mike's "apple maps" suggests a work-around: az-202, a recently built road (looks like to bring on board more tract-homes) that is way free and clear of plug - we do have to get around a truck w/it's fucking rebarb load 'pert-near falling off its culo. crimony.  at nine at watson road I pull us off to fuel up the new boat at a "circle k" w/mike paying $4.00/gallon (that's what the pump says, what I've been chimping all tour but since he's using a card, maybe it's more? the sign acutally says $3.90...)  meanwhile, I chow a can of 'dines w/some of those "fiery hot" (not) pickles - pickles w/their kind of taste works real good w/the 'dines for me. back on the road, we pass a sign for "tonopah" - love saying that word to myself. what I don't love is d boon was killed somewhere around this part of I-10 in 1985. don't know exactly and really don't want to. just past tonopah (love saying that: "tonopah"), we spot some cat hoofing it on the side of the freeway, shirt off! crimony...  we listen to "dragnet" by the fall - my favorite album by them (when was it released? 1979!) and mike finds it on the internet via the leash but can't handle all the records they included w/it (lots of times he's finding the reissues and the versions I heard back in the old days) but he says he's into the album itself... he knew about newer fall and not this far back I guess. I love "dragnet" much but can't understand why it was recorded the way it was. anyway, we see some cat hoofing it in the fuckin desert... crimony! how?  we reach the border w/california at noon, across the colorado river (not the texas one) and back to the state that most kind fellow driver asked me to leave back earlier in the tour in santa maria. first town after the inspection station is blythe and I get us off for a piss-stop at a "shell" on lovekin blvd just cuz it sounds kinder than neighbors blvd and that's only cuz the later is in brawley and not blythe! crimony. we continue west on I-10... yes, since the phoneix area it's been total west in the direction department. we pass the "tree-ring circus" at desert center and mike trips on the story of that pad involving the start of pre-paid health insurance... connects can come from the trippiest places, huh?  on a way more sour note: there's some assholes given me grief, one pendejo just has to do the tailgate and peep-around 'til the traff sitch (cuz of construction) won't let me get over and wouldn't you know once we pass chirico summit, this real piece of is pulled over getting a behavior gift from an hombre w/his coche lit up for xmas? sometimes we see karma in action w/in our lifetimes, huh? you know the pecker will find some excuse why he "got caught" and it's everyone else's fault. ok, end of sermon. at quarter after two I see the morongo casino and gives me an idea...  I wanna revisit the fuel-up I did years ago w/secondmen drummerman jer becoming "$200 light" while I gassed up at their pumps (he had me drop him off at the 'tel entrance and then pick him soon as I was done) and though the heads were closed, the pumps let mike do it for $4.50/gallon which is pretty good for these parts. piss-stop right after though at "chevron" for three of us, fourth using bottle.   there's some slowing but never a big time halt and we get into the frogtown part of sliver lake which is the part of los angeles the last gig of this tour is to be... across the l.a. river we go and...  drop anchor at three and a half... last hellride of the tour was eight and half hours but hey, we "arrived alive" and I am most grateful. the "apple maps" wasn't all the way together, wanted me to make a port across a double line but going to the next intersection and sizing up what to do w/boats - look for the starboards - I spot a gas station so it's a port (w/the arrow light) then starboard into the station and starboard onto the street we need, an econo uturn to bring us about, correct? soundman jeremy is got the gate open here at zebulon and guides us to get the new boat's culo on the load-in place. whew, we did it. I gotta dump like a motherfucker so I go in and do that - they got a head that can handle job, hallelujah. mike brings tacos as stuff gets set up and then we do a quick soundcheck before I head for the boat cuz damn if I ain't WAY TUCKERED from the tour's last hellride. I did get to say hi to chris schlarb who's own psychic temble is opening up tonight's gig. gonna see chris tomorrow cuz he's recording mssv for the next album at his big ego studio in north long beach. so glad to see him again! I go to the new boat and konk really quick and really REALLY hard, I am fucking out. it's dark when I pop w/in moments the lights come on and here's mike to tell me we're on in minutes... whoa, that was 'pert-near four fuckin hours! crimony. I think my longest konk in the new boat yet. I get my wack back 'puter sack and crutch and make my way to the stage... I see peter distefano setting up next to the chair I'm gonna sit in. I see tom watson setting up next to mike and then I see joe baiza in a chair next to tom. crimony! it's gonna be a four guitar version of "baby ghost (from the 1900s)" to kick off the last gig of the tour! alright. hodge brings it w/his chain, his chain on the snare - the gig is on! it's a trip hearing all these guitars over hodge and me, a real trip... I'm digging it. looks like joe baiza is sitting down like me and hodge, way on the other end of the stage... I can totally tell his style - tom watson next to him also, I hear his style. next to me is peter and of course likewise I can tell it's him by how he does it. the bass mike wrote for me passes through twelve tones, that's the loop, the big chord loop. hodge's and my rhythm one are way more tiny. it's a longer version for the opener but I'm so glad. big thank you as our guests leave and we're into our first rev-up, "say what you gotta say" - mike's kept this part of the set consistent all tour, not just these two tunes but the next two which have really pianissimo parts which I think is pretty balls-out to have early in a set and I'm glad for it. the frogtown gig-goers are most kind and give us much respect/focus... later on there'll be spiel in pianissimo parts like for "boat song" w/baka renditions of the kinman brothers' "big train" which I did a version of on my wrestling record like twentyeight years ago. crimony. back to tonight, I think mike's setlist for us has evolved into a real good one w/the title tune of the current album ("human reaction") next and then new ones "careful what you asked for" and "on and on" (title tune for next mssv album?) which I think go really good together. some bass first w/another new one "ok to change" and a watt favorite from the mssv vs nels cline seven inch, "(what's so funny 'bout) social jutice" that of course has to have the b side (nels' composition) "loose stone, fresh oil" follow. love how this bergantino setup I've been using all tour brings for my bass - mike does too cuz he wants me to use it for the album along w/this wattplower mark II bass I've been using w/it - the first time I'll record w/mike using this stuff. the tour is so connected w/the upcoming album, I'm really into that cuz it makes so much good sense. I already spoke of "boat song" - there was yammering but we kept it together, then a blasting "super dumb" which I hope was careening enough, I know that's something mike wanted us to convey in bringing this tune, I support even though it's a challenge and I can imagine hodge feels similar. even clamming it up though stomps out the yammering and damn if "despair & hilarity" (another new one) don't get some un-solicited competition, seems it's hard for some folks to hold onto that respect they brought at the beginning of the set to last to the end but I can imagine steve gigante rising to the occasion and in fact I wonder if he did write these words for mike for some sitch like this - I know for certain he DID write these words for him but am only guessing about the context which is prolly how it should be. we finish w/of course "the eureeka moment" which I think truly is mssv's theme song, for me a lot of what's happening in this group that I like is in it, also that most bitchin "the sand pebbles" book richard mckenna wrote serves as "the soil" some of what we're trying to do is growing from, capito?    we don't do an encore w/the trilogy/medley "yank it out / 1969 / equinox" but instead do a version of the blue oyster cult's "the red and the black" w/our three guests on guitar that helped us begin this gig w/, them being joe baiza, tom watson and peter distefano, stage starboard to port. it's slow like in back in pittsburgh w/edward and that's prolly cuz hodge started it that way but it's a fun ride even w/the clams (one day hodge will learn the ending) and I'm so glad we got to share this w/our buds. I pack my stuff up and use the ramp behind the back curtain to get my speakerbox off stage myself. it's important to me to do that. dr robinn says hi as I make my way out, so glad her and dr ray made the journey from oak-town to see us again this tour, so glad! at the new boat I have many people spieling w/me... my old friend juan rosenfelder is here, blessed it be! big hugs for him. I have big spiels w/lawndale drummerman dave childs and his guitarman jack's wife about how my joints really stayed unswollen and pretty much pain-free ALL tour cuz of cutting the sugars down w/what goes in my mouf. animator kevin brings me two cleve albums signed by cleve. dr ray gives me a shirt for his music proj, yatta! whoa... hodge gets in - guess I'm taking him to his pad. mike said he'd see me again tomorrow at the studio at eleven, we're booked for bof sunday and monday to do the next mssv album, I am confident we can do it! big hugs for brother steve reed before I bail, so glad to see him, truly! there's traff on the I-5 so I improvise and take the I-710 instead, can't be slaves to algorithms always, correct? get hodge home safe w/his stuff in long beach - everything but I fucking drum head I tried to already give him at soundcheck - well, I did but he brought it BACK into the new boat and spaced, leaving it in AGAIN! I will get it to him tomorrow at big ego, he will be surprised! finally I get back to my pedro town at midnight, here's what the oddometer reads:  started the tour w/it reading 449 so that makes 15,662 miles that I drove, correct? crimony. fiftyeight gigs in sixtyone days (three days off in between the two legs)... not one day sick - I give credit to having tacos (real ones) like 90% of the time, being careful w/the hands and healthy living w/out the alcohol. having no pain in my hands really REALLY was happening, same for having no pain in my knees even though I had to use a tsue and preform in a chair. I'm gonna be sixty six in december, this is happening stuff! I really feel energized by this tour. I'm a little tired but I am inspired much by doing what we just did. it was a really experience. can't thank mike enough for getting it and keeping it lit, for hodge joining in and keeping at it and for miss hiyori really being there for everyone big time. just beautiful. oh, the gig-goers and cats who made the gigs happen themselves, I am most grateful to, truly. big love from watt, most sincerely.
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this page created 17 may 2023