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tomorrow we leave for sundance.  i have no idea what to expect.  a rock band at a film festival?  are we out of our element?  perhaps. but fuck it, i want to hobnob with movie stars, drink from an open bar, freeze my ass off in Park City and talk about favorite films.  speaking of which...

since we've been busy on the road, i was disgusted with myself when i realized the last film(in a theater) that i saw in 2006 was Little Miss Sunshine.  to remedy the situation, i have made it my mission to watch as many films as i can before we hit the road once more.  here's what i've seen so far...

Pan's Labyrinth.  one part gritty realism, one part amazing, nightmarish fantasy.  stunning.  Children of Men.  i have never seen a future look so realistic.  there are awesome shots in this film that seem to never end.  very intense.  amazing.  and at moments, surprisingly funny.  Little Children.  didn't really enjoy it as much as the other films i mentioned, but the acting is pretty superb.  and Jackie Earle Haley is in it.  Charlotte's Web.  read the book.  Thank You For Smoking(via netflix).  Aaron Eckhart is great...

there you have it.  it's not a ton of movies, but it's a start...

see you when we get back from sundance.  i'll let you know if the hobbing had been nobbed.

~xoxopher

heat up the virtual fireside dvd on the telly, boil up some Dickens cider, make sure the Egg Nog hasn't gone bad and watch The Christmas Story for 24 hours straight.  this should be a good holiday season...

we have a lot to be thankful for this past year.  a lot of the thanks has to go to all the people out there who have supported us.  with all the encouragement and hospitality we've received, you have given four friends in a little rock band a bit more meaning to their lives.  it's not lost on us, and we appreciate it tremendously.  thank you, everyone, for the great memories of this past year and for the warm welcomes in each city we've been to.  we look forward to seeing you again in the new year...

happy holidays.  happy new year.

~xoxopher

Sharing stages with the likes of Wolfmother, Modest Mouse, The Shins, The Raconteurs, Dead Meadow, Pete Yorn, Simon Dawes, The Killers...shaking David Letterman's hand...not spinning the van and trailer out of control and dying in a Texas snow storm...Paul Shaffer digging sspu...bringing enough thermal underwear...meeting Johnny Marr...taking a lot of pictures...having a home cooked thanksgiving meal far away from home...not having too many van or trailer issues...getting snowed in at a hotel in Texas while a Laker game was nationally televised...Bif giving me the go ahead to start Lazy Eye...my parents meeting Andrew from Wolfmother(when two worlds collide!)...playing to a sold out crowd at The Hammerstein Ballroom and The Fillmore...not fucking up on drums(too much).

see you soon.

~xoxopher 

ok. i'm listening to the new SPARKLEHORSE record. i'm not blue anymore.

ok. so it went well.

we met the crew and dave and paul and all that jazz. i almost tripped over danny devito and i wanted a duct tape guitar strap. watch letterman this friday night and you'll see what i mean. after the taping, we went to some bar with a ton of our friends and just got giddy with spirits and celebrated til the bill was too high.

flew to houston and met up with the tour. we've done two more shows since we lat talked and they have been my favorite shows by far. HOUSTON and DALLAS are places we have not played very often. the crowds were so amazing that you just had to blush. which we did. our backstage in houston looked like the warehouse in the joy division video 'love will tear us apart" (a song that has been really hitting me lately and coming in and out of my life in bizarrely perfect moments). except not as nice. we had our own little world back there where we were able to kinda hang out with each other. that sounds weird, but you're so busy running around all the time, it's nice to actually party just with each other. DALLAS was the last night with DEAD MEADOW. we will miss them. we had a little goodbye type party with them and the wolfies in wolfmother's backstage room. again with the spirits, but no bill this time.

now. we're stuck in this little town in texas called quanah (named after the last chief of the commanches who refused to give up polygamy). there's a fucking blizzard and we're trapped. worse off, it's a dry county. we need to be in portland soon. we're going to try and haul ass over there but our van is slipping all over the road and we've watched a couple of trucks spin off the road right in front of us. our man mcrae is a white knucle master. we really hope we make it. we do not wanna cancel another show.

speaking of that. yes, we are truly sorry to you in ST. LOUIS. it is totally lame that we were not able to play that show. we're totally bummed about it and sorry that we have let some of you down. it totally blows. i'm really working on a way to get us out there soon. we wanna meet you. sorry. bad band.

ok. blizzards, no st louis, love will tear us apart. now i'm really blue.

you?

love brian

i have not been able to contact you for a bit. my access to this web type thing has been limited, due to lame hotels and a hectic schedule. but now, here we are. a couple of silver spoons (have i used that line already? probably. i never read these things).

now, you all know that since we last talked we played a few shows at CMJ (north six in brooklyn being my personal favorite). we played shows in NEWPORT BEACH (thank you), SAN DIEGO (the BELLY UP is a fantastic venue), and MINNEAPOLIS (thank you, we really love you... brrr....). and we did what i call a 'corporate campfire' show for SPIN magazine (which was really fucking cool).

but that's not what you want to hear about, is it?

WOLFMOTHER.

we met up with them in philadelphia. everyone was a bit shy at first. peeking into each others dressing rooms and what not. yes yes, we have dressing rooms. but we're slowly breaking those barriers down. the wolfmother boys and every one of their crew are super nice. which is nice. right? DEAD MEADOW has been playing with us on the first leg of this tour. we have met them before and it's always good to see familliar faces. they make us happy. oh, and their sound man, brian, was hit by a car the day before the tour. nice. right? wrong sicko. he's alright. he's getting the feeling back to his limbs. he needs them.

we've only done a couple of shows with them (philly, nyc, detroit, and chicago) and it's just been great. after doing a couple of headlining tours right before this one, it feels so good to be playing for new people in great rooms. i mean, great fucking rooms. a highlight for me was detroit. i've never been to that city and i just had the best time hanging out with the crowd, watching the show. DEAD MEADOW and WOLFMOTHER just kill it every night. the crowds are so excited when the bands are playing. it's really been a refreshing experience. i love meeting new faces, but it has been hard for me to actually get out of the backstage hooplah and hang out with the crowd. i'm working on it.
in chicago, our tour guru Mcrae took us to his friends bar, THE HANDLEBAR, in wicker park. free drinks and shit talking and stuff makes the road more friendly. for me anyways.

i am very sad that we had to cancel our show in ST. LOUIS. i was looking forward to being in that city for the first time. the reason for it brings me to where i am now.

i'm in another hotel room in NYC, yet again, and we're a couple of hours away from performing on THE LATE SHOW, with DAVID LETTERMAN. i know i know. if you think it's weird, try being us for a second. we flew in last night first class (it's almost wrong how much better you're treated up there. you can't even feel turbulence. they remove it for first class only) and soundchecked at the ol' ed sullivan theater this morning. we whipped out our 3:30 second version of lazy eye a couple of times for the camera guys and sound guys and all the other kinda guys hanging around. we were a little nervous about it, but their whole crew (like wolfmother's) are totally great, the sound was superb (even though it'll probably sound all jinky on tv), and everyone there was real excited that we were there. which made us feel welcome. which is nice, right? you got it. except one guy introduced us as silverspun pickups. but he was sad about it later. i gave him shit. yep. i'm mean. and Biff said we were good. and yes, it's cold.

ok, so i never try to get personal on these things. i have a defense mechanism that strips my journal entries of certain aspects of the road. so i don't mean to sound all jolly and fundamental all the time, and i don't mean to just give you boring cliffnotes of the facts of what happened. i just feel a little douchy when i bring up sentimental moments. but for all of you on all the tours we have done, who have come up to me with your woes and your heartbreaks and your horror stories and then telling me that our music has really helped, i say thank you. i know what you mean and you are not bothering me at all. you help me. you really do. i understand more than you know, and i appreciate you letting me in on your personal grief and am stunned and truly humbled that our music has helped. it helps me. i'm blue too. but it's ok to be. that's how we work. right? right.

sniff.

ok. i'll let you know how dave goes. you can watch it on friday dec 1st. after tonight we fly to houston and jump back on the road with the boys. oh, and if you're in LA, the second night at the troubadour is selling pretty quickly, so get your tickets now. we want you all there.

and on we go.

love brian

happy thanksgiving, kids. hope you ate a lot of turkey and wore elastic pants.

~xoxopher