The Chris and Shelley Birthday Bash Recap (Updated)

In future times
We'll hold it closer
Imagining
We weren't older
And through it all
They'll be playing our song


"Ice Age" - Pete Yorn

So, last night's show at Streetside happened, and all in all, it was a great success. But the best part of last night? Was this:

Knowing my deep abiding love for chicken wings, my friends at Streetside made me a very special order.
I love my Streetside friends.

Alright, so back to the music portion. First up was Rob Davis. Despite feeling under the weather, he played a helluva set:

Next up was Lauren Valsoano:

Then I played (I didn't get any pictures of that for obvious reasons, but if any come my way, I'll post them later, in the meantime, please accept as a substitute this picture of my cute puppies):

My set (As far as I remember it):

Take it on the Run (R.E.O. Speedwagon cover done country style)
Is It True?
You've Got Me Until Wednesday
Come to California (Lauren joined me onstage to help out with some sweet vocals)
City Lights
Hidden Track
Thousand Night Sky (Stevie joined me for this one)
Never Coming Back to California / Dead to Me Now

After I was done rockin' the joint, We Are in Seventh Grade (Steven Gilpin and Shelley Miller) finished the night off with a bang.

As if playing an awesome set wasn't enough, Shelley stuck around afterwards and played a truly"unplugged" inpromptu singalong for some latecoming audience members. Also, she baked me delicious cookies for my birthday. She's officially pretty goddamn awesome.

No shuffle mode today. Between sleeping in, long walkies for the pooches,  and watching Season Two of "Eastbound and Down" the iPod has been dormant today.

SEXY UPDATE: Pics of me playing solo and some pix of Lauren joining me for "Come To California" (Photos courtesy of Trevor Breter)

Rock!

Come to California

Lauren takes the middle solo

Come to California I'll be waiting
On Sunset Boulevard...

Stuff Daisy Likes

Eating

Personalized bowl!

Walkies

This little Houdini has figured out how to escape from her harness, so walkies have been temporarily suspended until an escape-proof apparatus can be acquired

Using Roo as furniture

This indignant look of his has become a permanent fixture on his face.

Using me as furniture

Napping

They are excellent nappers. They nap like motherfuckin' professionals.

Spooning

Seriously. They're fuckin' killing me.

Rasslin'

Hangin' outside w/Roo

Stealing my slippers

She doesn't chew them, she just steals them.

This list is in no way comprehensive, as she seems to like pretty much everything, wind, leaves, grass, even rocks. Yes, rocks. She likes to pick up rocks and carry them around. What a weirdo.

Shuffle mode, Daisy style (All REO Speedwagon today):

"Take It On The Run" - REO (BT and I are covering this on the 20th)

"Being Kind Can Hurt Someone Sometimes"- REO

"Ridin' The Storm Out" - REO

"Shakin' It Loose Tonight" - REO

"Son of a Poor Man" - REO

Just a Reminder

This thing happens next week. Don't miss it!

Muck Man Theme Song

He started out as an environmental disaster
Now environmental justice is what he's after

My buddy Bruce Gerlach from Tattooed Sky has an online comic called "Muck Man" that you should really check out. Bruce has always been a brilliant artist and cartoonist, and I've always looked up to him for that. Even back in high school, I used to rip him off all the time 'cause his stuff was so cool. (Viva "Star Florists"!) Flash forward to the present day and Bruce is out there making his way as a free-lance artist, doing work for such prestigious clients as Lucasfilm, Marvel Comics,  and Hog Snot Motorcycle Oil. He's also graciously provided me with a great deal of promotional art for my musical endeavors (Bruce has always been very supportive of my musical shenanigans, even way back when I sucked, which I totally appreciate) Anyways, as a way of saying "Thank You!" for all the support, the artwork and for being an all around cool guy, I tore myself away from obsessing over "Thousand Night Sky" and wrote a theme song for "Muck Man" because, as we all know, every superhero needs a theme song.  Please click the links below to enjoy the Muck-alicious sounds I've created.

Muck Man Theme Song

Muck Man (Instrumental Interlude)

First Six of Mucktoberfest Shuffle Mode:

"Run to the Hills" - Iron Maiden
"Hoo Dee Hoo"- The Rainmakers
"I Still Love You" - Terence Trent D'arby
"Since You've Been Gone" - Rainbow
"Song For You" - Fuel
"Rhythm Dies" - Planes Mistaken For Stars

Stuff in the Mail is Cool (Thanks Bro!)

Though I am grown
I'm living like a child now
I wish, I want
Giving myself everything
Fearing the release
Keeping the peace


"We Were Wealth" - Wye Oak

My brother, Ric Quigley, has been building guitar pedals as a hobby for a little while now, and has built a couple of custom pedals for me, which sound fucking fantastic. Well, imagine my delight when these little fellas arrived in the mail yesterday:

Muffy - The Big Muff clone

Quigtone graphics, in case you were wondering who built it.

Shredder - Marshall Shredmaster clone. It walks the line between fuzz, distortion and overdrive then takes a giant shit on it. (And I mean that in a good way)

Custom Sleepydog graphics. A nice personal touch!

Better than any birthday card I've ever gotten.

I promptly plugged these bad boys in and proceeded to rock. They sound amazing, especially Muffy (The Big Muff clone). The Shredder sounds great too, and has that really smoothed out overdrive that I like when I am being ham-fisted with my distortion, but I have yet to master the EQ on it.
Here are some of the previous pedals he built for me:

Mighty Mouse - Five different distortions in one, including a Rat Pedal clone. Matt from from Planes Mistaken for Stars was so impressed with the sound of it that he borrowed it for their local reunion gig.

Delay Pedal (For when I'm feeling all Edge-ey)

The Jesus Rocks Phaser. I'm not sure that I agree about this Jesus fella, but this pedal definitely rocks.

Hey, its' October 1st! Only 20 more days until the Streetside gig, and the live debut of The Good Leads.  It would suck if you weren't there to see it happen. I mean, we all want to be part of history, don't we?

First 5 of shuffle mode today:

"Dyslexic Heart" - Paul Westerberg
"What Is Life?" - George Harrison
"Where Does The Time Go?" - Innocence Mission
"The Bends" - Radiohead
"Dragdown" - Steven Gilpin (Who will be joining me again for "Thousand Night Sky" on the 20th. Fuck yeah!)

Daisy Update: For those of you who were wondering how the new addition is doing, she's doing great. She came to us with a nasty case of kennel cough, and some infection from her spay surgery, but thanks to the awesome docs at Animal Medical Center, and a lot of TLC, she bounced back and has been doing terrific. She's full of energy and affection, and mischief and she apparently has the appetite of a horse.
She says "Thanks for asking"

Yeah, we cool.

Now I'm done.