11-29-08 LA CA: 2226 hrs. I am listening to Wire’s altogether perfect Pink Flag album. I can’t get over how lean, smart and intense this thing is. I have been listening to it for decades now and it just gets better.
I did the last show for the year the other night in the beautiful city of Seattle, one of my favorite stops. Always a great night there. The hard part was waking up a few hours later having to go to the airport without another show to go to. I have been off the road now for a few days and to tell the truth, I really don’t like it. I had another show booked for Alaska after Seattle and I was glad to be going back up there, all that salmon and of course, Sarah. The promoter guy thought the show would not do well so he pulled it. This happens now and then but not all that often. I got many letters about the cancellation. The letters ran the gamut of emoticons. One of the more colorful comes from sturdy Alaskan John L., who let me know where he was coming from with this stunning missive:
On behalf of any supportive fans of yours in Anchorage, AK I just want to say fuck you, but more importantly fuck you to Ticketmaster. Your show was cancelled, I understand shit happens. However, the money Ticketmaster kept as a convenience charge is a bit of a cheap dig. Considering your strong, responsible, and somewhat anarchist views on things, I think you’d have the decency to utilize a ticket company that doesn’t fuck over your customers. Simply put, you’re an asshole if you know they do this and you still use them. You’re also an asshole if you just found this out, and you’re still going to use them. I’ve seen you live a few times, and seen a few of your spoken word DVD’s, and I don’t think you’re an asshole. Maybe I’m wrong about that, but here’s a change to do something about. Use some of that anger and pent up frustration to tell Ticketmaster were they can put their convenience charge since they won’t listen to their customers.
Until you prove otherwise, you’re an asshole, fuck you.
-John L.
Well, damn. I had no idea. I have always hated TicketBastard but as Eddie Vedder will tell you, there’s beating them. The drag is that I am the last to know how any of this is going down. For me, it’s an e-mail from management saying that there was a show and now there isn’t one. I am left to answer all the mail and to take the flak. I see where Mr. Lackie is coming from, he should not have been made to pay for merely buying a ticket from these criminals. They owe him.
Tuesday night I am speaking in front of some music industry people among others on the topic of water shortages in Africa on behalf of a very good organization called Drop In The Bucket. They are a nonprofit organization that is improving water availability in Africa and they are really getting some great things done. I have been reading a lot about food and water shortages all over the world and it’s depressing as hell but I want to know this stuff and try to get an understanding of what’s going on. It’s been great getting to do more and more of this kind of thing. Hopefully next year I can get some more involved.
There wasn’t much happening at the office this week as I was gone and then when I got back, Heidi was gone but I have been working steadily on the final draft of the new book. I have also been working on some other stuff as well. Here’s something some of you might find interesting. I have been wanting to put out some older band stuff that I have had sitting around for years. I am preparing a pretty cool expanded edition of the Hard Volume album. I was at the office on Friday, listening down to cassettes I had from the sessions and came across a tape that we made while Theo was getting sounds on the instruments. He told us to play some songs while he worked on things. I told him to run a cassette as I think all of this stuff is worth documenting. What I found were interesting versions of Hard and You Didn’t Need. We had just written them days before and nothing was really set in stone and we’re all over the place but it still sounds neat and they are true outtakes, never released anywhere and just on this one cassette. I had not heard those tracks since 1988 when we recorded them, it was strange hearing them back all these years later. So, I will keep looking for other cool stuff from that era to put onto the re-release to make the thing all it can be. I will be working on some other releases for next year as well. I have to get this book off to the printer before I can do too much other stuff.
Being off the road isn’t all that good for me. I have work to do here so that will keep me distracted for awhile but I am cooking some plans to get out into the world as soon as possible. As usual, I want to be everywhere else all the time.
I have been reading an interesting book called The Forever War by Dexter Filkins, some pretty fearless journalism from Iraq and other unsafe places. I am going to re-read Andre Breton’s Nadja tomorrow. I am still taking in some Fitzgerald as well. I got some good reading done on the last leg of the tour. It was not the most uplifting but informative and well written. A Small Corner Of Hell: Dispatches From Chechnya by Anna Politkovskaya, Blue Covenant: The Global Water Crisis And The Coming Battle For The Right To Water by Maude Barlow, Free Ride: John McCain And The Media by David Brock and Paul Waldman and The End Of Food by Paul Roberts. I also snuck in some Steinbeck as well.
I am digging the Jaguar Love releases, Marnie Stern’s new album is great, even better than her last one I think. The new Hawnay Troof album is brilliant too. It’s a great time for music. Dischord is remastering a good part of their catalog on vinyl, some of it has already started coming out, next year is going to be a great year for those with turntables.
Until next week, enjoy the cheap gasoline and don’t eat the paint chips. –Henry