Mike Viola, Ricky Free, Nolan Verner playing for the first time in Nashville at 12th and Porter. No rehearsal, no soundcheck, just a whole lotta talent from these 2 players who brought the heat. I wanna spend time there in Nashville, maybe a rez or something. Or better yet, an extended tour of the south. Just love it down here. Day off in Atlanta now. sitting 51 stories above another Sunday. the Patriots just won. I just paid 20 bucks for internet access in my room and there’s a Starbucks in the lobby. So I may just be a little chatty. this tour is about to wrap up. been out almost 3 months (including the fountains of wayne leg) and already I’m looking ahead to 2012 to see how I can get back out on the road. it’s by far my favorite way to make music: live, in front of an audience who is seeing it happening NOW for the fist time.. ephemera… it’s what I live for. yeah I could burn months having fun in the recording studio, but given the choice I’d take the road. the long drives. the sleepless nights. the loneliness. the gallons of diet coke and energy mix, trail mix whatever. singing every night, pouring it all out. sometimes people listen ,sometiems they don’t, sometimes you connect superficially, sometimes you charge deep, ears popping, body about to burst under pressure, the weight of emotion. and doing that every night… it’s… I’m very happy right now let’s put it that way. the hum of the heating system 51 floors above Peachtree avenue where the wind the howling a few weeks before Christmas. I am Santa Clause. I exist. there are magic reindeer in the overnight parking. 29 bucks a day for valet. there’s a wish list in my head. some items checked off, others carried over from last year that once again will be unfulfilled. I take this seriously. the elves, the winter warlock, the burger meister meister burger. have I told you about my drug plan? no ? oh, it’s awesome. but I have NO time. its’ my day off and my battery is running out and holy crap I think Starbucks is closing.. it’s Sunday… I haven’t eaten… I’m too high (51 floors remember)… I might order room service. no I won’t. i”ll go to the gift shop downstairs, look for a postcard to send IZzy, sniff out some kind of trail mix, leer at the passerbye, and return to my tower for the end of the OAK verses GB. I’m not a football fan, I watch it on mute. I just want to be connected to the collective unconnected. connected to the brew loving sports fan sprawled out in bars and lazy boys across the great divide. 2 of them are my brothers Dave and Larry. I think of past Christmas’. with parents. with older problems that are now resolved. with older passions that have petered out. with older ideas of what tomorrow might bring. as I sit here in tomorrow, a future man, Santa Claus, the clock winds up not down. lvmv

photo by Max Crace