Upcoming shows

Well, it looks like we have settled back into a foursome. We had an accordion player for a show in Astoria, and then our show at the White Eagle in September. It was fun while it lasted but now we're back down to our core 4, me, emily (who is on bass almost full time now), Aaron and Geof. We have shows lined up for the rest of the year (Halloween Dinner hour show at Mississippi Pizza, Nov 15th at East Burn in Portland and December 4th at Alberta St. Pub with our old, dear friends Cicada Omega). We have settled in nicely, having had our best practice in months last weekend. New songs in the works, as well as designs on a new CD to be out by the beginning of the new year. Stay tuned, and come out to shows if it suits your fancy.


http://www.thenewmexicanrevolution.com

Merkley and Smith

Jeff Merkley (D) is challenging Gordon Smith (R) for the senate in my adopted state of Oregon. Gordon Smith has been a tried and true backer of the Bush Administration until it became quite apparent in 2006 (when Dems swept every statewide race) that being a republican in this state might be a great deficit. So now Gordon Smith is running as a democrat, showing pictures of Obama in his campaign ads, running on traditionally democratic prinicples of environmental protection, expanded government provided health care, etc while also attacking Merkley for being a democrat. Smith has had a solid lead up to this point, but Rasmussen has their latest poll out that shows Merkley with a statistically insignificant lead, which means they are basically tied. This is bad news for Smith. He has more money, more name recognition, more to lay claim to, but he has an R by his name, which trumps all of that it would seem. Merkley has been making a steady climb while Smith's support has been flat at best.

http://www.pollster.com/08-OR-Sen-GE-SvM.php

Smith has been good on certain issues (trying to get mental health parity, whereby insurance companies would treat mental illness the same as physical illness), but his political turn around on the Iraq war in 2006 only came about after he saw that his undivided support of the war would be an anvil around his neck in 2008. He is in trouble, like many republicans this year.

the political side of things

It is presidential electioneering season, and that means tons of boredom passed off as excitement. Well, there is one exciting aspect of this whole thing, and that is watching John McCain flounder at every turn. Twice, two days running, McCain referred to the Czech Republic as Czechoslovakia. Czechoslovakia has not existed since 1993, when the one country split into two, with the other being, weirdly enough, Slovakia. As the right wing will go about relying on the fear of terrorism as their only talking point, the will undoubtedly say that Obama has a pre-9/11 mindset. Maybe we should start saying that McCain has a pre-11/9/89* mindset.

*Fall of Berlin Wall.

A new day

After having resisted blogging for such a long time, I've decided to throw my hat into the ring here, and share with world all of my trivial thoughts, well not all, but my trivial thoughts on music and politics. This thread got started when I was having a discussion about learning music as a kid the other day with Katie and her parents. Her mom asked if I took piano lessons as a kid, and I said that I did, but none of it really stuck with me. I'm sure there's some muscle memory there, and that whole spatial thinking thing that kids supposedly improve through playing piano, but nothing concrete. I don't play the things I played as a kid. It was rote reproduction. And this is the problem with music education (and mostly every type of education). Creativity isn't valued, being able to do as your told is valued. So it's no wonder that many kids, forced into music lessons or school band, abandon music shortly after they are no longer forced to go. If creativity was valued, if kids were taught not only the fundamentals, but also how to compose a piece or write a song, then I think more people would continue to play music after the lessons are done, and our world would be a richer place for it.

Austin, times

Well, the Austin show went off great, with Leatherbag and Tenlon's Fort. It was the first time I'd seen Tenlon's Fort as a full band, with piano, drums and a fiddle/dobro player. Jack has made the transition to fronting a band with ease. It was a beautiful spot, a mini-Red Rocks Jack called it. The stage was outside, with a natural amphitheater feel. Large white rock cliffs rising up behind the stage. The sound was great, the audience attentive and appreciative. My mom was there, old friend Natsuki came up from San Antonio, and Jill flew down from Portland. The weather was beautiful. All in all, a great night.

The revolution will not die!

So we've had a little bit of a shake up. Aaron and Jana have decided to take a hiatus from the band, and the rest of us are in the process of regrouping. Our new CD is out now and will be in record stores around Portland shortly, but for now you can order it through CD baby and our website:

thenewmexicanrevolution.com

I wish I had a more poetic way to put things, but change comes sometimes.

The promise of mutiny..........

is a promise no more. We just officially sold our last available public copy of our first release, The Promise of Mutiny. But fear not, just as the last one was being sent to James MacDonald of Mobile, Alabama, our newest CD, Theories of Sun and Rain, was being shipped to Portland. The new CD will be available through our website as early as next week. We are all very proud of the production, performance and packaging of the thing. It will be available for $11, including shipping and handling with a paypal account. We will also be placing it on CD Baby, as well as the better record stores around town.

can we play there every day?

Last night we played at Mississippi Studios, a fine establishment just north of our frequent hauntings at the pizza pub. We were met on entrance by Steve, their sound engineer, and to understand the importance of that, you have to know something about the sound people (should there be one) at most of the clubs we play. First off, you have the places with no sound person, which means we do our own, and that's just never good. It can be okay, but it'll never be great, and frequently it's only just shy of terrible (for example, the Show Which Shall Not Be Named). Then you have the regular sound guy or woman, who sort of knows their stuff and gets you cords for your mikes, and will test to see if all the DI's work. Ususally serviceable, and generally the bars have terrible acoustics, so they do the best they can. Then there are the standouts, big clubs with great acoustics and and sound person that knows their fucking shit. Heather at Ash Street is one such. And then there's fucking genius sound like an orchestra hall where you can hear every note the banjo plays, perfectly mixed by someone with no fear of whipping iggerant musicians into shape. Steve, sir, my hat is off to you. May we see you again, soon, cuz that show was a high like none other.

harold von trillian knows his.......

The Dante's show went off without a hitch due to the stylized authoritarian nature of Harold Von Trillian. The club was packed with well wishers and clowns alike. The music was great, the acting was good, the service was amazing (in the green room anyways). All in all a most wonderful and spectacular night.

Edit:

Aww, c'mon, that's all you have to say about that night (whoever wrote that post)? Friday night was a spectacular the likes of which have probably never been seen in this town before. Heroes and Villains got together an all-star lineup, beginning with yours truly, followed by Harold von Killian and his puppet troupe, Myshkin's Ruby Warblers (Myshkin, bass, and percussion this time), Pepto Dizmal and the Feral Clowns, Heroes and Villains, and MarchFourth Marching Band. That's quite the lineup you say, and indeed I do say it. Twisted entries of alligators and gladiators, mariachi tunes, a penis stapled to an Oasis song, the Habanera from Carmen, bass clarinet features, and a dance party marching band? Actually couldn't be better. I have no actual comments on HvK or Myshkin as I caught about 5% of those acts, but damn, the rest of the night was smokin'.