ReverbNation really wants me to take out ads to promote the band, and they're telling me this via banner ads using a still image from the "White Flag" video. Hilariously, these banners tend to appear when I'm reading Go Fug Yourself, and some alchemy of browser settings means my face appears at more or less the same scale as the celebs in the GFY slideshows.

At this point in the video I'm singing "You can radio the captain," but it turns out this is a relatively neutral facial expression that acquires a lot of meaning from context.

​For example, here I am awkwardly serenading two legendary women about how much I want a 9 to 5 sequel, and Jane is not having it:

​
​"YOU ARE SO PRETTY HOW ARE YOU SO PRETTY."

​
​"I...have questions about the eyewear."

​
​I freeze, recognizing that this is my last moment of life, as she sprouts wings and transforms into a Creature of the Night.

CELINE: Ne mentionnez pas les jeans.
ME: Okay, but...that's an acid-wash paper-bag waist, right?
CELINE: ...

​
​(incoherent noises of lust-drooling)

Here's the set we played Saturday night, as amended when we discovered we were missing a crucial cable and weighed the lateness of the start time against the snow accumulating outside.

Notes: I thought I had a little more time before we started, so I headed for the bathroom. That turned out to be almost the exact moment that the audience came into our space. And THAT was how we learned that a) the live slow-build intro to "Slinky" is long enough to cover a pee break, and b) I can enter a stage from a bathroom door, pick up a Strat, and start playing. It's not how I would choose to start every show...but it's good to know it can​ work that way.

I haven't even posted a demo of "Lie" yet, but it's likely to be our single for Record Store Day 2019. It will not be a late addition to Highway Gothic--more probably part of an EP with "Windowsill." But one thing at a time.

This was also the live debut of "Subourbon," which we scrapped from its last set after not being able to nail down an arrangement we all liked. Some things don't come together until you're in the studio. ("Get Out" also worked that way.) 

Julie Jurgens sang as a special guest Baguette, as well as playing her super-cool mini trumpet for the horn lines in "White Flag." (She shared a bill with us in 2016, and she's on the album yelling in the background of "One Two"; hopefully we'll get to have her back for more shows.) And I would be HUGELY remiss not to mention that Thomas delayed his return trip to Hawaii so he could play bass for this show. Which is pretty amazing.

Today, I hung nine original paintings on the wall at the eternally cool Logan Parlor space. Each painting is based on a Highway Gothic song (pictured above: "Subourbon," "Teflon," "Badlands"). They'll be on display for the first three months of 2019. 

Each painting is 12" x 12", acrylic on board, and priced at $100, with proceeds going to the first pressing of Highway Gothic; the price includes a CD and download. We'll also have some giclée prints available.

It will not have escaped your attention that the paintings are the same size as LP jackets. Hopefully we can do a vinyl pressing later, with "Badlands" and "Lost in America" inside the gatefold; at nearly an hour, it'll have to be a double album anyway, so we might as well exploit that for graphic design. Side 4 will probably include a handful of newer songs that don't have any other home, like "Lie" and "Windowsill." But that's a few thousand dollars away, so...for now, enjoy the paintings.