DARK MATTER

A couple months ago, Robert Wells and I agreed to DJ the Heavy Manners in August in place of Chuck (not Slick) and Brett. Robert later reneged so I tapped Aaron Lindell to take his place and enlisted our pal Raj as pinch hitter. It was our first time playing the Elks Lodge and, if anyone has heard me talk about just how great and strange the venue is, one might have expected my excitement over playing there. It started off slow but steady at 10pm and gradually the Elks filled. By 12:45am, the place was starting to get packed and newcomers kept up until around 1:50am. Raj closed the night pretty mightily and Aaron and I got to dance with our ladies. When we finished around 3am, the bartender came by with our tab and asked when we were coming back to do the Elks again. He handed me their calendar and I marked off three days during the next three months. Aaron remarked that this should be my thing since he has eve and Robert has the soul club. That sounded great to me since I had just been complaining to Aaron that I wanted my own night and I get to have it at the Elks. Amazing. Wonderful. It's going to be called Dark Matter.

Skate Laws' second performance was this past Wednesday in Ypsilanti. Save for Laserbeams of Boredom (a.k.a. Craig -- drums and guitar, he plays both at the same time, totally wicked) and Patrick Elkins, the events and bands preceding my set reminded me why I stopped playing shows for a while. Holy shit. I opened with a little a'capella Brenda Lee and went right into "White Columns", read a story, kicked my shoe off, made some cigar jokes, got sweaty, and did the splits. John Nelson of New Grenada was there and as soon as Erin said I should get a band behind me, he piped up that he and some people wanted to start a thrash band. I agreed to do it. The best part is: I don't have to show up to practice! They'll write songs, tape 'em and upload the suckers, then I'll write the words and we'll meet up to play shows. Anyway, Mike snapped the photo to the right. When I got home that night, Laurel asked me to play a show at Arborvitae this coming Wednesday and I agreed.

Another few weeks before we move to the new spot but I can't wait.