Here is a shot I took of the Truckers looking a bit scruffier last year at Bonnaroo '03. Shonna Tucker hadn't taken Earl's place as bass player yet, but she did happen to be standing on the side of the stage with a Van Halen shirt drinking Jack Daniels straight out of the bottle. 

Finishing the site / Drive-By Truckers rule!

The new site for Sorry Ma Publishing should be up soon. A good bit of work has gone into it, so it will be a relief once it is finished. It will also be a relief to get this new story Ennui finished. I finally locked myself in my room and put a few hours into it. Writing, for me, is one of those things that I sometimes fear during anticipation, but can't stop during execution. That's exactly what happened yesterday. I procrastinated and procrastinated, but once I sat down to do it, I didn't come up for air for nearly two hours. And how much got done after three hours? Maybe two pages, total. Oh well, if it were easy...

Last night only re-confirmed my belief that the Drive-By Truckers could be the biggest band in the United States if they keep going at this pace. Their show at the Great American Music Hall gave me new hope that the raw power and emotion of a rock'n'roll show circa Van Halen, Motley Crue, even back to ol' Led Zep or the often referenced Lynyrd Skynyrd, could be married to such a talented group of songwriters/musicians. Sure, they get their 80's hard rock ya-ya's out, what with Cooley doing solos on his Flying-V up at the front of the stage. But it's almost as if they are doing it a little tongue and cheek, as if they want to give the audience a little of that rock star attitude that has been missing for the last decade or so, even though they don't actually possess it. The crowd was so into it, they stomped their feet and chanted for not one but two encores! They played just about the entire new record, along with my favorites like Living Bubba, Women Without Whiskey, Zip City, Let There Be Rock, and a new one called Grandaddy. And though I miss hearing songs like Steve McQueen, Box of Spiders, Don't Be In Love Around Me, and 18 Wheels of Love (I'm hoping they'll bring 'em back more regularly after this tour), I have to say that the new DBT really has something going. They seemed almost too big for the tiny GAMH stage.

Tonight, Brock and I are going back to GAMH to catch Umphrey's McGee. Should be a totally different experience. Brock isn't a big Phish fan, and has never really listened to Umphrey's before, so I am hopeful that he will enjoy it. Rachel will be across town at the RjD2 show at the Independent. May have to take Saturday off to give my ears a break!

Dad's gone, and I still can't get this story finished.

I felt like a new man when Dad left San Francisco to go back home. Molting is the only way I can describe it. Before he arrived, I felt pretty low and empty. But after he left, I got this feeling of revitalization that I was not expecting. I stopped worrying so much about spending every moment trying to find a job, and started to figure out how to enjoy the balance of life. I've been neglecting my duties as author and not finished Ennui yet. How can I not be finished with that story yet? I started it months ago! I've finished entire sections of a novel in the time that its taken me to write this one story. And what's worse, I feel like the fire that propelled me into the writing frenzy to get the story started is not only out, I don't even remember what the damn smoke smelled like. So, with whatever inkling of imagination and memory of my original idea I can muster, I'm trying to finish it and get the next chapter of the Swimming in Circles saga going. With no Lane or Gray to carry the story, I'm quite worried that that new stories will end up flat. We shall see with the reaction to Ennui, a story that is quite a departure from my typical tales.

The visit with Dad was good---got to see a good number of sites in and around the city. It rained for the second time since I've been here, and I had a tough time concentrating on my time with Dad because the evil anxiety demon kept finding his way to my shoulder. I'll shake him yet. Sometimes, I feel like I need to use that, because it will inspire the writing process. Scott Weiland only wrote memorable stuff when he was in the throws of or trying to get off heroin. I'm listening to Richard Buckner, and though he will always produce quality work, his best stuff was when he was lowdown and heartbroken, destitute and suicidal. Now, he's married, and things are going well. Good for him. Maybe not so good for his music. Happy people maybe shouldn't make art. Because we look to art to discover that other people are feeling the same way we do.

The weekend is on the way, and though I didn't get the job I was shooting for at the Great American Music Hall, I did get tickets for both the Drive-By Truckers show and Umphrey's McGee that will take place there. Rachel and I are shopping for cowboy shirts either on Haight Street or Fillmore so that we will be ready for the Alabama Ass-Whopin' that DBT is bound to lay down. I am counting the minutes.

Dave & Dave hanging out at the bluegrass festival. (That's Ralph Stanley on stage in the background!) 

Peter Rowan and Tony Rice burn it up during the Strictly Hardly Bluegrass Festival in Golden Gate Park. 

What I Signed Up For

The refined frustration that I have for interviewers who are cocky, condescending, and inexperienced evaporated off my skin as I rode the Judah N-Line into town this morning. A screening interview that I figured would be a piece a cake turned into a session of 'can you read my mind', reminiscent of Bill Murray in Ghostbusters as he flipped those ESP cards and prodded the dorky test subject with electric shocks. My interviewer was actually the manager of the position for which I was interviewing, not an HR person. He was an MBA and this was his first marketing job out of graduate school. And while his background was in electrical engineering (?!?), apparently the MBA had made him ruler of the marketing world. So, while I thought I was applying for an analyst position that required being able to extract strategic information from multiple sources of raw data, it seemed important to him that I instead be able to write a proposal for developing marketing strategies right there on the fly with no true knowledge of the raw data. Maybe if I had worked with an online advertising company, I would have had a better answer for him, but it seemed pretty clear that he wasn't impressed. Oh well. I know that I have a great deal to offer and its unfortunate that his inexperience kept him from figuring that out. Okay, so maybe I'm just trying to make myself feel better.

So, four weeks and only one call back later me and my Master's Degree are still unemployed in the 'most expensive place to live in the U.S.'! Fortunately, a slight beam of light broke through the constant fogginess here in Inner Sunset. After talking to the ticket office manager at the Great American Music Hall for a position open there, I got an interview. The interview was today, right after the 'crash & burn' screening call. Needless to say, the black I wore to the interview was befitting. But alas! This interview actually went well! And though its only part time, doesn't pay much, and will probably keep me in the poor house for another year, it did seem promising. Fortunately, my experience at the Cat's Cradle trained me pretty well for this position. And, even if it does keep me penniless, there's something to be said for smiling when you get up in the morning. Maybe it will give me more time to actually figure out what the hell it is I really want to do. I'm guessing that it is not take orders from some green MBA kid. So, I don't mind working shows again, and actually, I'm looking forward to it. I find out on Monday whether or not they will offer it to me.

So, my fingers are crossed. I'm a little worried that the job would cut into my show-going addiction, but maybe that is a good thing. Still got John Scofield at Yoshi's, Soulive at the Independent, and of course, the highly anticipated Drive-By Truckers at the Great American (I already made sure that I would not be working this show!) Just keep telling myself that this is what I signed up for. Just gotta keep telling myself that.