Everybody needs to lay off Amy. What a wonderful song writer and performer. She brings an art form that hasn’t existed in years that is so needed. She was catapulted into world wide fame and maybe she didn’t want or expect that. Now everyone wants to pull her down because she didn’t preform to everyones expectations. She’s an artist. Think about it. Sometimes you do a shitty job at work, you’re hungover or you just don’t give a shit, the difference is your job doesn’t require you to be in front of thousands of people every night. Some artists don’t relish in the fame. Some artists just want to create good music and do the best they can with what comes with being a successful musician. I say thank you Amy for writing great music and fuck the bastards that want to drag you down. Keep doing what you do. You don’t have to be perfect, leave that to the cheerleaders that’s what they are there for. Real artists do the best they can to create something real something important. You have already succeeded in that so fuck the rest of them. Do your thing I’ll be listening. Can’t wait to hear what you have to offer next.

Justin Bieber nail polish? I’m at a loss for words. I really don’t have much to say about this I just thought I’d put it out there. I guess it’s appropriate, I mean might as well suck the teet dry. This is a perfect opportunity unveil the new Constellations maxi pads. Don’t let that monthly visitor get in the way of your perfect day. Step right up and grab your new Constellations Maxi pads with extra strength absorbing power like having your own personal Felicia down there. They are here to save the day. Available no where for the price of our integrity and soul.

You know, I’m a big fan of Common’s music and the “reporters” at Fox “news” are partly right about his lyrics being dangerous—but for the wrong reasons. Hip hop today is filled with rappers that talk about selling drugs and shootings and so called gangsta rap. This music and their lyrics flow so easily in one ear and just as easily out the other. It’s pop music now and in a lot of ways, no one is really listening. People just want a beat they can ride to and a hook easy enough to repeat. The problem with Common is he ain’t that common. He actually speaks to his audience and challenges them to not except the norm. He speaks of real issues and God forbid, solutions. Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on hip hop and I love a gritty street story of crime and striking back against the man. Do I think that those lyrics inspire people to be criminals? As much as I think some of the rhetoric spoken by some of our elected officials inspires racism. Maybe that’s going a little to far. Most of the people I know who listen to hip hop are… wait everyone I know listens to hip hop and they are all pretty harmless. My point is, you’re right about one thing, Common does have dangerous lyrics but it’s absolutely appropriate for him to be at the White House. This man is a poet and a champion of his people and their continued struggle. In short, get off his fuckin’ nuts, bitch! Ha.

I hung out with my big brother tonight and realized again how much I learned from and owe my brother for his influence on me. Such a cool dude. If you don’t know or have never met my big brother, Josh Jones, you have missed out. Truly an original. I remember chasing him and his friends around on my skateboard, trying to keep up, and my brother never told me to fuck off, something most big brothers are required to do. He was the first person to tell me I should learn an instrument. He introduced me to Charles Bukowski and William S. Burroughs. He took care of me and taught me things a father never could. I owe so much of who I am today to my brother. Anyway thanks Bubba. I love u.

Ok first I’d like to say that, I’m sure some of these kids are talented. I loved “since you been gone” by Kelly clarkston. I think it’s a great pop song and it stands on it’s own. But every time I get into a casual conversation with a stranger and the subject of me being a musician comes up, they always go straight to “you should go on American Idol.” That’s what being a musician means to a lot of people. There’s nothing wrong with American Idol, it’s just not what I do and further more, after I tell you I don’t watch the show, please don’t go on and on for forty minutes about your favorite contestant, growing up poor and their rise to fame and so on. I don’t give a shit. Good for them, please don’t compare what I do to what they do. They were chosen to be on a show to sell products to the American people. Again there’s nothing wrong with that I’ve just chosen a different route. I write songs and travel the country 365 days of the year in a fifteen passenger van, trying to play those songs for as many people as I can. It’s a hard but rewarding life. I haven’t gotten rich but I’ve met a lot of great people doing it. Music isn’t a product to me. You can’t call a number to vote for my success. I rely on people buying my record and coming to my show. That’s fine with me, I’m not complaining. That’s the way it should be done in my opinion. You pay your dues. Nothing in this world worth having comes without sacrifice and hard work. That used to be the American way. Maybe I’m wrong. Anyway good luck to all of this years contestants. I hope they find their true voices and have long rewarding careers. I’m gonna go sit at my dirty old piano and do something I know I was born to do. Write.

1. Demon alcohol - The Kinks
2. If drinking don’t kill me- George Jones
3. White rabbit - Jefferson Airplane
4. Just one fix - Ministry
5. Kryptonite- Big Boi
6. Reefer and blow - Lindsey Alexander
7. Cocaine - Eric Clapton
8. Lucy in the sky with diamonds- The Beatles ( kids drawing my ass)
9. Heroin- The Velvet Underground
10. Feel good hit of the summer - Queens of the Stone Age

Let me know if you have a better list

So I got the chance to play some records the other night at Eastside Lounge, a local bar in my home town. It is one of my favorite late night hang outs. My friends throw party’s on a regular basis and asked me to do a night there. I’ve been slowly collecting a lot of old soul and funk and other hard to find stuff so I was happy to do it. The night went great, a little to good and I found myself not able to drive at the end of the night. Luckily I drive a large fifteen passenger van that can sleep four people some what comfortably. When I woke the next morning sweating bushmills and beer I couldn’t quite remember where I was and how I got there. I stepped outside to pee and as I’m in mid stream the car next to me starts to back out. What can you do. Well I waved as if to say” you got me, sorry about that”. The moral of the story is of course, don’t drink and drive and carry a milk jug with you at all times. Or maybe it’s just, a little piss never hurt nobody.

Alright so I started off the evening by picking up our new drummer Shane from the bus station. He was hungry, I was hungry and Shab had been on this juice fast for the last six days so better believe she was hungry. We pondered a few ideas but then we got a text from our friend James and he was at 97 Astoria having some drinks. So the plan was to go there,eat,have a few drinks and head back up to Alpharetta around 9:00 because we had full band practice the next day and are learning a few new songs. I looked down at the clock and heard in the distance ” last call” no shit, at the very same time. So we some how arrive at our destination but I’m still pretty awake and need desperately to get to sleep. I asked Shab if it would be alright if I grab a bottle from her parents wine cabinet. She said it would be fine, we’ve absolutely done it before with no problems. She instructed me to grab from the bottom of the rack because the nicer more expensive wines are towards the top. So I did exactly as she instructed, went down stairs popped the cork and put on my head phones, listening to a little music, sipping this bottle chilling out from a long night. Unfortunately the next day I was informed by her mother, I had accidentally grabbed a 1993 Borgogno vintage bottle of red wine. Oops! I mean it says it right there in big letters and if that didn’t clue me in maybe the dust on the bottle could have hinted that it was no Sutter Home. Thank god they are really cool people. Oh well. What are you gonna do. That’s one expensive night cap.

I’m sitting in a ford dealership, still drunk from last night, praying this van issue isn’t gonna cost me an arm and a leg to fix. We are somewhere in Virginia and it’s 10 o’clock in the morning and I’ve already had to jump our van twice today. This is pretty standard for our band. No matter how much I make sure to pay attention to the maintenance of the van, oil changes, tune ups and so on, I still end up in some shop in bum fuck wherever, hoping to god we can make it to the next show. I must have been some kinda asshole in my last life because I keep stepping in karmic shit on a weekly basis. There are 7 people in our band and not one of them knows dick about cars. I’m sitting under these flickering florescent lights with the taste of last nights whiskey on my tongue, trying really hard not to throw up on the soccer mom who’s on the phone with her kid bitching that she’s been here for 3 hours. What a pain in the ass. I’ve gotta be in Boston by 5 o’clock tomorrow and it’s not looking good. We are used to this kinda situation. Being on tour for more than 300 days last year and the better part of this year, I’m prepared for any kind of shit storm that blows my way. But I have to say, the ass stench is starting to get to me. Oh well, my glass is half empty today. I’ll try and put on a happy face after I wake up and wipe the drool off my face. Everybody cross your fingers and send your prayers up to the car gods. We need your love. Nap time.

So we are at the Jefferson Theater in Charlottesville VA and we have zero CDs for sale, having sold out of them last night. The last couple of nights have been great for us. Someone actually came up to us after the show and asked for 4 CDs and a t-shirt. That’s a true fan. Not only does he want to hear the cd for himself but he wants to introduce other people to our music. Anyway on the one hand it’s a good feeling to know that people are digging the show way beyond our expectations but merch is kinda our life blood and to be out of CDs on the road is like being stuck in the desert with no water. It makes it very hard to survive. I guess I’ll have to start pushing those shot glasses again. Oh well I hope this means we’re doing something right for a change. Gotta go get my pregame on. Shots shots shots. Buy a t-shirt Virginia, baby needs gas money and a friken burrito!