Summer Tour 2010: Hotter than ever!

Had you told me that when we headlined Everett, Washington's 4th of July festival, i would have smacked you.....prebably not, that's just not me....i would have smirked, then turned away so you couldn't see how I really felt, and continued to drink the sweet, sweet local brews that Washington has to offer.  Let's just say it was cold; and an equally if not greater than cold wind was blowing off the puget sound onto the stage.  Acouple beers and a spring coat later, The Lucas Cates Band was off and running(it was still really cold).  Accually the Summer 2010 tour began six days and six shows earlier in Madison, WI.  We drove about 10 hours each day to our show; unloaded, set up, played, broke down, slept(most of the time), and drove.  Our week in Washington began as a cloudy windy holiday, but ended a cloudless beautiful northwestern adventure as we had 7 days of total sunshine beginning July 5th. 
The tours have been great as the crowds are multiplying and merchandise is flying off the shelves.  The Pacific Northwest as been offically labeled (by me, so really not that official) a "hot spot"(but official enough for quotations) for the band.  There is a lot of excitement for the music and amazing response from concert goers which is why we will return to Washington and Oregon in 10 days to wrap up the summer tour. 
One cool band thing of note happened about a month ago.  We will soon(which means hopefully soon) be in "E-Cast" jukeboxes around the country as an unsigned band.  Both All the Pieces and Live at Sullivan Hall will be in the data base for all ecast boxes....pretty cool.  We are working with Touch Tunes currently to secure the same type of deal.  So say you are on vacation and you want a drink.....no brainer....go to the bar, BUT let's say you are on vacation....at that very same bar and you say "I'd like to make everyone in this bar listen to what I want to listen to," so you go over to the sweet juke box, AND you've already decided that like an unhealthy addiction you NEED to listen to The Lucas Cates Band.......NOW........well damnit you are in luck, cause we'll be there for you.  Now if it just so happens that you are staring a Touch Tunes Jukebox in the face, make sure you write them or your local congressman(or woman) and tell them we should be in Touch Tunes as well......simple, delicious, fish.

Suggested Music Listening:  Caravan (Single) - This is some serious new stuff from Rush.  You won't believe what you are hearing.

The Van Story

This story will be told in the style of William Thomas Mansfield IV....because he is the greatest story tell who ever lived.....and continues to live...i can prove it, I just saw him last night, so I guess barring any unforeseen "indecent" he's still kicking.

So there I was behind the wheel of the greatest vehicle ever made prior to 1997.....the '97 Dodge DMC, the Dream Machine(pronounced with a hard ch...as in chicken), the Cheese Wheel, the buttratfarttub(its a pallendrome...like........noxon).

We stopped for a snack, actually we stopped because kenny's bladder decided to turn 65 years old on this tour and he has to pee every 100 miles or so....regardless, as we merged onto I-90 we heard a grinding sound come from somewhere under the car.....kenny and chet got out and listened and determined our back right was completely fucked and upon further investigation decided to change the tire. Turns out that son-of-a-bitch(willie style, remember) was worn down to the metal grid beneath the rubber itself making the tire damn near explosion. we unloaded the van, jacked her up, and changed the tire. Although we continued to hear the grinding sound, we decided to continue at a reduced speed to Spokane, our original destination and venue.

Everything was going smoothly. We ascended Lookout Pass which took us from Idaho to Washington, and began our decent passing the mountain town of Mullen and into the darkness of the Washington Rockies. About three miles down the road from Mullen I rounded a corner, following the river as it bent to the right. Midway around the corner the back of our van slammed into the pavement; the right rear tire and fallen off.....son of a bitch. At 65 miles an hour we began to swerve and fishtail toward the concrete divider in the center of the interstate, then back toward the edge of the road and the river, then the concrete, the river.....my breaks are slammed and the van is making a god awful sound....imagine nails on a chalk board....but the bottom of a 2,000 pound van against concrete-Kenny's is fist pumping shouting "you got this, you got this, you got this, you got this", and I'm trying to maneuver to the side of the road.

All completely instinct, all a flash of chaos....but it wasn't done yet. Like a pricey valet I parked the son of a bitch between the white line of the shoulder and the guard rail on a corner of I-90.........the dust settled.....i was amazed at the cleanliness of my pants.

"We're on fire!" is probably the last thing you want to hear, probably ever, but that's the first thing lucas said when he got out of the car. The rear right wheel well was completely on fire...mostly likely caused by metal scraping the pavement and a busted axle, break components and grease.

I never felt an ounce of fear during the ordeal of loosing a wheel until i knew we were on fire....i mean...we were on fucking fire!!! Chet in the panic threw a bottle of water on the well, which only made the fire bigger cause it was a grease fire.....I'm unlocking the back door with hopes of unloading my bass (and everyone else's shit too, but in moments of panic you get selfish)....Lucas, in his moment of brilliance and heroism sacrificed his pillow and smothered the fire, while we threw sand on the burning grease.

Fire out.....all that remained was the red glowing end of an axle which had melted and snapped. Ironically the wheel had rolled with us and landed next to the van.

Highway safety worker Scott(the silent three hundred pound type, no jacked....he never wears a jacket), Officer Louie Ochoa...the best cop name ever, and Darrell, the bands first ever driver, were on the scene. Police reports, road flares, sirens, flashing lights, a celebratory cigar(for not dying) were all out in force. Darrell the tow truck driver(which was more like a big flatbed with lights and our van drove us to the front door of Mootsy's in Spokane and helped us unload our gear. We played, rocked, and thanked the powers that be.....i guess it's just another story from the road....the crazy crazy road.

Thanks to my family Kirk, Renee, Jared, and Rickki and their friends for helping us out big time....giving us a place to stay and staying up way past your bed times to make sure we got where we needed to be. You are all so awesome. Officer Ochoa, Scott, and Darrell for keeping us safe on the interstate, and the guys at Bell Automotive for making our Dream Machine bigger, better, and stronger for future travels. Woo Hoo, the cheese wheel rides again.......................................................bye!

We just drove through dell, montana: population 35. Aparently there was a wreck on the highway and we've been diverted ontoo a two lane county road that
Parallels the railroad andk cuts through a beautiful ranching valley. Chet is consantly gaming, luker is playing saduko, ken is singing "funbelievable", comenting on ducks, and generally entertaining himself.
We played at a coffee shop/record store last night; pretty much heaven for me....I picked up Joni mitchell's mingus, amazing!! Turn out was good considering we book a little more than a week ago. Go to vinyl perk the next time you are in pocatello! Our friend, and local Pocatello harp player, BRAD(i got it right now buddy!) sat in on Cougarville. Hopefully he posts facebook video soon(hint hint) of our jam togeether in may. Thanks again brad n page for making us feel at home.
Tuesday in Paxton licked off the tour right, and as always kept us up past our bed times. Time and time again you guys proove that you really know how to rage; 600 strong! Thanks for keeping your kids out on a school night, commiting to a work hangover, and supporting us while we are on the road.
The next five nights are in Washington, I'll let you know what goes down, in the mean time if anyone asks you what kind of music the Lucas cates band plays, say "volcanic rock"....it's most fitting.

Car Story is Next....

washington is accually pretty rainy, but awesome

Who the hell is fred meyer? Apparently I'm walking around in his store in Bellingham, Washington as I type. Ken is trying to purchase "a lot of socks," and can't find anything. Like shoes, size 13 socks are hard to find. Of course he is trying to get the best deal possible, which prolongs the process. No nikes; tiger wears them and now they are expensive-what a pussy. Looks like he settled with flipping a coin and got the goldtoe premium full cushion cotton quarters....nice choice.
Playing in washington has been a good choice for the lucas cates band as well. We have met many amazing people. Karen and Kevin put us up in Mt. Vernon after a 24 hour drive from paxton, ne(see an earlier blog about paxton, nebraska. The place is amazing). Trinka was gracious enough to let us crash at her lake house in glen haven, wa. I have pics on facebook, but the place was so beautiful...it had the fire pit, hot tub, lake, rehearsal space(her husband is a pro trumpeter, you heard him on like every aerosmith album amongst other things). We spent two days on the lake, surrounded by the clouds and trees. I felt like gorillas in the mist, except with bigfoot.
The 4th of july show went off well. We played on a cliff overlooking the ocean, or the "sound" as its called, for a park full of people. The show moved a bunch of cds and got us two more gigs for this week! The first was last night in everett at PC's and was a tuesday surprise ragger! Amazing crowd of people listening, responding, and gettin down. A local painter painted a "tour poster for us, and did a live painting on the reverse side while we played. It is safely wrapped in lucas's sleeping bag(also posted on facebook). It reminded me of san fran or ashland, oregon, which is a very good thing.
Tonight we play at the wild buffalo in bellingham. Word is there's going to be a good crowd. The press we picked up has generated a solid buzz in the pacific northwest. Beautiful country and beautiful souls have made this little run well worth the drive. The only disappointment is the fact that I have yet to see bigfoot....kind of like narr.

do i really need a title?

Is missoula the only place on earth where a coffee shop adjoins a bait and tackle store? I think you know the answer. So as I sit at Trout River coffee struggling to recall the events of the past two days I realize this is the best job ever.
We left our friends in Pochatello and headed toward craters of the moon national park. It was a bit out of our way but we had to see this geological wonder. The park is like a million acres of ash, pumice(I think that's the right term), and desolation. No trees, no plants-just rock and wind. Idaho is like a bunch of plains winding through rugged snow-capped peaks. It's like following the oregon trail; remember that game? Lucas was bitten by a snake, kenny has syphilis, jesse broke his arm, you lost a noxon and are delayed. Fortunately none of those thongs happened, but we did loose 5 pounds of food, 30 dollars, and a roadie trying to ford the river.
We stopped to camp for Lucas' birthday between chalice and salmon, idaho. Our camp site was prime real estate along the banks of the salmon river; it was beautiful!! Kenny and I were hanging in there with our sickness, but managed to help jesse and luker polish off a bottle of jame-o and tap the rockies to celebrate the b day. It was a raucous night of campfire cooking, drinking, jamming, and lighting kenny's farts on fire(there's video evidence). The next morning started with kenny's worst morning of the tour-not from the drinking...no no...it was the geese. They woke him up at 6am which made him a crabby raaby. After 3 hours of widdling a drum stick for chet he punched himself in the face-hard-trying to get river water to squelch the fire. He hit his head on the van and decided to sleep till missoula. Unfortunately,he missed a beautiful snowy ride over the pass to Montana.
Missoula was cold, both in temp and temperament. The bright spot was david and Rosalee cates's family. They have been great to us, and so far the highlight has been david's grilled cheese with yogurt and mustard...seriously try it, it awesome.
Last night we played the top hat, a legendary club that has hosted acts like jj cale, matt guitar murphy, bo diddly, molly hatched, johnny winter, and mojo nixon to name a few. We were guinea pigs on their new sound system, which was good and bad. It is finals week here and we felt it. The saving grace of last night was a tie between having the expirence of being on a. famous stage and having access to a ping pong table in the bar. It seems ping pong tables in bars are common in the west. Is it because its fun to watch drunkards chase a plastic ball around the bar?

Yes.

Jackie Greene, the frontman last year for Phil and Friends, is playing the Top Hat tonight and we were comped on the list, I think we will go check him out on our night off.
Incidentally picture that correspond to this trip, or I should say, this blog can be found on my facebook. There will be plenty of video posted once we return, but in the meantime you can get the idea in my mobile uploads folder.
Tomorrow we are in Portland, friday and saturday are in Ashland(oregon), and Sunday I get to reconnect with an old friend I haven't seen in 12 years, comedian Mike Simpson, in Reno, Nevada.
So I'll keep taking pills and keep my nose clean. You just make sure you stay awesome.

first day off

I think I really like pocatello, idaho. We drove 10 hours from tom's place north of paxton through wyoming and into idaho. Lucas or kenny are typically the starters, while I take middle relief(for the record those 5 hour energy shots really work, cause my 5 hour shift into pocatello was a breeze).
The venue was the 1st national bar; it was the night of isu's graduation, which must have been a small class cause I only saw one graduate(better luck next year guys). We were riding a bit of a high cause we learned on the ride up that we won 6 madison area music awards, including artist of the year. The show was great although kennys been sick with a cold. Even though we quarantined him I think I'm coming down with it. The pocatello crowd was super responsive and ready to dance. They liked to drink, not gonna lie, but nobody was disrespectful to anybody else whatsoever. The highlight of the night was Brett who came up to jam on his blues harp during Cougarville. It was awesome! He was a great player and added that extra cherry in what was already a great old fashioned pocatello expirence(did anyone catch that pun? I was pretty proud of that).
Today was sunday, our first day off and a day of relaxation; well,pseudo-relaxation. We've been staying with jesse(a college friend of john cates) and lee(jesse's girlfriend). They have been so kind to us and today lee took me on my first real mountain biking adventure. The pics are at my facebook page if you want to see the views. This was serious riding! Like, the bike had shocks all over the place and the terrain was everything from straight rock to dirt to logs. I managed to nail myself in the stones a coule of times while flying over some unexpexted rocks and roots...fun. We were out for about three hours and clame close to the snow. I compare it to skiing with a bike. The best part came at the end of the ride when we stopped by a friends place for his microbrewed stout...mmmm delicious. "Forgiveness appeared in the form of a beer" -Jake Freide
The only solution for rubber legs is driving 20 minutes south to the town of Lava where they have public hot springs. The minerals in the water are good for you,apparently and native americans used to frequent the springs before white settlers fucked it up for them. The coldest pool was a mild 105 degrees. The hottest pool was about 115, I think. It was like a bunch of humans sitting in a crockpot slowcooking all of life's problems away. There's an image for you. Tomarrow is Lucas's birthday so we're going camping at craters of the moon national park. It's a desolate million acres of volcanic formations, ash, and ancient lava flows where nothing grows and the lucas cates band will finish a birthday bottle of jame-o while sitting around a campfire...I'll tell you all about it...in a bit. Bye!

western tour

What up y'all! It's been awhile, but I'm getting geared up for our western tour, so I'm trying to get in the habit of this whole blog thing. Stay in touch, check this often, and indulge yourself in the insanity that is a Lucas Cates Band tour. We're out for about a month, so I will try to access this from my crack berry and write some jibbrish. We're in Ceder Falls tomarrow night....more to come......talk soon.

Eastern Tour Eve.....

.....is kind of like Christmas Eve except there are no reindeer, or chimneys, and the only present you get is 10 days in a row in a van with three other dudes. That smells terrific! Seriously, though there aren't three other guys i would rather do it with. We start in Kalamazoo, MI at a place called the Corner Bar followed by:
Robusto's - Grosse Pointe Woods, MI Feb. 6th
Old Miami Bar - Detroit, MI Feb. 7th
Wilbert's - Cleveland, OH Feb. 8th
Howler's - Pittsburgh, PA Feb. 10th
New Oxford Coffee - New Oxford, PA (acoustic show) Feb. 11th
Sullivan Hall - New York, NY (Greenwich Village) Feb. 12th
All Asia - Cambridge, MA Feb. 13th
Jillian's - Albany, NY Feb. 14th

It's a nice little run. We haven't been that way yet, so I'm really excited to meet some family I've never met before and reconnect with old friends. Peace.

We're all Martyr's

In preparation for our Eastern tour in February The Lucas Cates Band is hitting the road for a long weekend.  We have to get used to spending 24 hours together...god knows that's a chore(for those of you who know us, you know nothing is farther from the truth).  Actually, we're like Captain Planet....when our powers combine we turn into a really tall green man who can fly and recycle.

  Last night we played Martyrs in Chicago with the Wu Li Conspiracy and the Steakhouse Mints, and had a blast!  Wu Li was all acoustic/folk with a twist of lime.  The Steakhouse Mints left me stunned, confused, entertained, and exhausted....they were awesome.  

The sound on that stage and in that room was some of the best ever, and the staff was wonderful.  It was a really great start to what looks to be a good weekend.   

This will be made possible in part by the new application Kenny downloaded to his phone.  Surprise, its the fart application.  So now I don't know if the farts are coming from Kenny or Kenny's phone until the laughter turns to looks of disgust.  Which almost makes me happy that I'm getting sick.

Whoever thought that you could drink away a sinus cold....is stupid.  I have a sinus cold, which kind of sucks on the road because I don't want to spread it to the rest of the guys.   

I also got to spend time reconnecting with some old friends who now live in the Chicago area.  Unfortunately they all had to work on Friday....suckers :-)  

See you in Louisview.

The Train Is A-Rollin'

Wow so much is happening right now i don't even have time to think. This is my first post of the New Year so let me get you up to speed. First of all I will be day job free as of Jan. 30th. The Lucas Cates Band is going to be out and about so much that it is senseless to overextend myself. I will be teaching private lessons while we are in town.
We shot our first music video last Sunday for the song "Through". It only took 12 hours and several locations but we got it done. It was a blast. I played the same three chords the whole day, changed clothes 10 times and Kenny and I got to act as cops....yea...I totally got the gun. Kenny wanted to have his shotgun in the vid, but the director thought it was over the top :-) When we post it you will have to watch us struggle not to laugh. I mean, I can't think of many situations where we are serious in real life, not to mention "acting" in a music video.
This week is the start of a busy year. The duo played live on The Morning Blend in Milwaukee, we did an interview with our local CBS affiliate about the upcoming year of tours, we have an interview and performance on WGN Chicago on Thursday to promote our show at Martyr's (Chicago), and then we hit the pavement.
The Eastern US tour starts the beginning of February in Kalamazoo, MI. See the details and full list of dates at www.myspace.com/lucascates. I think I'll try to keep a journal of our adventures while we are on the road.
I'm really looking forward to our gig at Sulivan Hall in New Your City. It looks like a cool venue and I've never been to NYC. I'll get to reconnect with my old Bass teacher, which in all honestly makes me really nervous! I'll also get to meet some family I've never met before.......Noxon's! The Noxon family is small but fierce, I hope they come out and support.
Until next time, y'all be good.....and "if you can't be good, be safe"-Lucas Cates.
I'll see you on the road.

TLCB Wants To Play On This Cruise

Ok, who doesn't want to spend four days in the Gulf of Mexico on a cruise ship with John Mayer, Guster, OAR, etc? If you answered "Me," then you aren't human; it's very simple. I guess the point is that The Lucas Cates Band is in this online voting competition to play on such a cruise in 2009. The Mayercraft cruise is hosted by John Mayer and features a number of amazing bands. This year they want to bring unsigned artists along, so we're going for one of those spots. It takes 3 minutes to register on the site and vote (ideally for The Lucas Cates Band). If we can cause a stir then we get to play on the cruise, and if we play on the cruise y'all are invited! We'll just cram everyone into my cabin....it will be sweet, seriously.

You can find the link to vote at our myspace page : myspace.com/lucascates (the link is to the right of this post). Every vote helps! You can only vote once a day, but you can vote everyday! Go ahead; put it into your routine....kind of like.....brushing your teeth, or checking your email (for those of you who don't brush).

Thanks so much! Y'all are awesome!

What Are They Saying?

SO every now and then I google "The Lucas Cates Band" (among other things) and see what pops up. So far there haven't been any naked pictures or mudslinging (at least what I have found), but there have been some cool responses. Here are some links to those:

http://hypem.com/track/680020/The+Lucas+Cates+Band-Through

http://www.maximumink.com/index.php/reviews/disc_review_permalink/all_the_pieces

http://www.indietree.com/index.php?contentID=611&profileID=3685

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/08/prweb1241624.htm

http://www.thedailypage.com/isthmus/article.php?article=24054

You ca also go to lucascates.com to more reviews and such. By the way....if you do have naked pictures of us please keep them to yourself.

I'm Thinkful for......yup I meant to type "thinkful"

I just drove for five hours in shitty weather(ice, snow, wind, etc.) from St. Paul, Minnesota to Madison, Wisconsin....the epic end to my Thanksgiving weekend. I also poured myself a strong drink(to relax from the tense drive) and now feel compelled to write some nonsense. I am really excited for the band. We are in that stage where things are happening, but we are still rocking the cougar bars in small-ass wisco towns; we can still play a four=hour show and people feel compelled to yell "Freebird"; there are still a million ways to spell Cates, cate, caates, catis, kates, kate's; backstage means a parking lot, a basement, a trash can, a Chinese restaurant. Don't' get me wrong, I am not trying to come off like a whiny bitch. To be honest, I kind of like it all. There is a satisfaction in setting up your own system, fighting for your payout, sleeping in the van, taking a sharking lot, and playing as much as you can.
This year I am thankful for my family and friends, as well as my band, who through thick and thin will always be my brothers. You guys are the best. I love you and look forward to every experience we encounter.

but the words are mine.


Alright so let me catch up with our adventure. The remainder of our days flew by us. We bid goodbye to our friends in Sharp and Harkins Band as well as Mike Droho and Anthony, and traveled to Spartenburg, South Carolina. Now Spartenburg is famous (to me at lease) for two things. 1. This private all -girls school, and 2. the world headquarters for Denny's. Unforunately we couldn't get a grand slam at either! We played at Wild Wings, which is a restaurant chain in the south, as well as an awesome venue. Our sound team was amazing and we had some of the best sound we'd had on tour. Everyone we met that night was super cool and supportive even though throughout 3/4 of the show their backs were toward us while they watched that Patriots/Jets game. I can't lie, Chet and I were watching too. We had some friends who saw the Duo in Arizona drive from Maryland to see the show which was a show of serious dedication. The highlight of the night for me was seeing Chet and Richard have a dance party with themselves once we got back to the hotel room....and as you should assume this was fuled by booze, and my documented evidence of this event will never be shown. Friday night was SWANGIN'! We played at the Atlanta Brewing Company, which is THE place to go before you go out in ATL. Some of you might have seen this on Dirty South TV, but if you didn't it was in a warehouse and smelled like feet. The crowd was strong, though and we made a lot of new friends and sold a good number of discs. It was so hot in there I had never sweat so much...I felt like Styles...seriously I'm sure you can see it on the video. Many props go out to G from Dirty South TV who helped us out, and cracked me up when he was filming by holding one "rock and roll fist" in the air while he ran the camera and ate a massive sub sandwich....a man of many talents and styles...all awesome, by the way. After that we kicked it with some people from the show at Fox and Hounds. We drank some drinks, shot some pool, had a great time, and decided to go to the Pink Pony. Now did I mention Harie is one of the baddest dudes I know. This guy hooked us up with some premium apparel for his clothing line, Rejunio, and took us out that Friday for a night on the town!!! All I will say is this Pink Pony = VIP, Free Drinks, Free Hotel, and Jessica Linn a foot from my face. Swangin!!! Harie....we can't thank you enough for your generosity, hospitality, and overall awesome spirit. Thanks, brother! We wrapped our Atlanta session up with an acoustic show at Marlow's Tavern. We played on the porch above the restaurant which was heated and intimate. It was great to see some of our friends from the night before (not Jessica :-( and great to meet all of the new people. It was a great way to end our southern experience. Hey bartenders....y'all were the best! Now don't think this tour was all about boozin', after all we are professionals :-) Finally there isn't enough thanks, love, and appreciation that I could express with words to adequately show my love for Shirley, Georgia, and Teresa. Y'all are family to me and I love you very much. Thanks for making me feel at home away from home. I can't wait to see you...believe me you will just have recovered by the time we come back. Thanks for believing and let's keep this mutherfuckin train-a-rollin'.

Laissez le bon temps roulez

Last night kicked off a very busy next three months. The boys returned from their duo tour (a healthy six weeks long) on Monday and the whole band did two acoustic sets last night at the Bar Next Door. Seriously, that is actually the name of the bar. Its an old Al Capone speakeasy complete with escape tunnels and a kick-ass old fireplace. Anyway things are looking up for the Lucas Cates Band. Aside from the Thursday, Friday, Saturday shows each week, our CD release party is October 18th, we're playing Halloween with one of my favorite bands, Steez, the southern tour is kicking off the second week in November, and New Year's Eve looks like it's gonna rage (we're doing that show with Steez and Chafo...my side project of sorts).
I think the new album is on itunes already...I'm not sure. I happily do not handle the advertising/promotion/business end of things. There will be a solid push on Yahoo and other Internet sites for the CD. Of course, these days it's not about the album since people can just download songs. This is definitely an issue for me, I mean I know that it's all about downloads and making things easy, but there is something about an album: a time capsule of songwriting that is interconnected with the experiences of the songwriters, a musical snapshot of the artists moment in life, a collection that makes sense as a whole. You wouldn't take just the smile from the Mona Lisa, would you? OK, I'm NOT comparing the Lucas Cates Band to Di Vinci, but you get my point.
Wow, I got a little off track there. I think I just tripped over a soapbox or something and can't remember what I was talking about.

Keggers and Cornfields

Last night was my first experience playing country music. As hard as this is for me to admit...it was fun. There are no metaphors in country, man. The singers tell you how they feel about anything. "I kicked my dog and I punched my wife and I never loved America so much in my life.." Its really quite insane. But there is an honesty that appears in other types of music which reveals itself in a different way through country music. And when its all said and done country is just pop music with some twang and a fiddle.

So I'm working with a great songwriter and this great singer who's been sought out by some Nashville producer. It's pretty much a recording gig with the chance to do a showcase later this year. A showcase, for those who don't know is pretty much an American Idol type situation where you play for "industry types" and they decide whether or not they can get rich off of you.

So I've been workin' on ma drawl, y'all. I'm fixin' to get me a naace stetson and hit up them keggers and cornfields so I can feel at home.

loosing my blog virginity

Ok, so I have finally caved in and started a blog. But why? i mean, is anyone really going to be intrested in reading the random things I have going on in my head? Consider this a social expirement then.
In all honesty this may just be another attempt at some shameless self-promotion and a great way to display my piss-poor spelling abilities.
So let's do a little introduction:
Hi, I'm Mark...typically I'm addressed by my last name, Noxon. People seem to like it. It's a pallendrome, you know, spelled the same forwards and backwards. My last name takes it one step further, however. You can read it forwards, backwards, and upside down. NOXON...seriously try it hit ctl + alt + the down arrow and read for yourself (restore your view with ctl/alt/up)...weird, huh?

I live in Madison, Wisconsin. It's a beautiful city, often refered to as a musicians grave yard (I'm sure I will rant about this topic later, so I'll save it)
I play with the Lucas Cates Band. We tour nationally and are working to pay our bills. Check it out on my links. I'm also sitting in with this funk band called Chafo for the next year.
I do studio work for anybody, anywhere, any style.
I graduated from the University of Wisconsin with a degree in history (again, there will probably be more posts on this stuff too).

If you are still reading this I'm impressed...and thanks!