Ken Stringfellow dot calm

9.27.2005

TENACIOUS D ISN’T EVEN FUNNY TO 8-YEAR-OLDS.

Just thought I’d mention that. I’ve never heard of more money spent on shittier jokes since the little seen ‘Sultan of Brunei Comedy Hour’ back in ’82. I mean, maybe they're trying to prove some philosophical point...'look how much we can be rewarded for for how little thought or effort...isn't that hilarious?' But, really, to me, it's a waste of plastic and a good drum sound. If you want to laugh *and* cry, get the Chunklet DVDs… or pick up the new Big Star album, ‘In Space’, that was released today on Rykodisc…

TALLAHASSEE 9/19

Lots of fun here calling ahead to the radio station at FSU and sassing off the great staff there...fine folks running the club at the University here...cool room to play too. My friend Ane's band Producto came down from Athens and did a fantastic set of music that ranged from soothing to operatic and many points in between and around…and beyond.

We stayed in a hotel that night where a frog was cooling itself off on the ice machine. Since when does a cold-blooded creature need to cool off? Usually the challenge for those animals is to say warm. That's how hot it's been.

BIRMINGHAM 9/21

BBQ'd it up and did our banking and sending money to our bus. managers before heading outta town. Slow roads in Alabama. A lot of 50mph stuff! So, we finally got to our hotel in Birmingham that night, and examined our rooms, and headed right out in the hotel shuttle to the 5 points neighborhood....we ended up at Jim & Nick's BBQ (yes, I ate nothing but BBQ at some point for like 4 days). Even though it was getting close to closing time and they were out of a bunch of stuff we still had an excellent meal. I had ambitions to go to a movie after dinner (my favorite activity on a day off) but I was so tired by the time dinner was done I surrendered to the need for rest, and we walked back to the hotel. Wrote an email or two and went to sleep!

One of the emails I saw was to the address posted on my website, from a fella named named Mike, saying if we needed anything in Birmingham...so I emailed him to call me on the show day, which he did--he and his friends John and Kristy took care of us--got us to Kinko's (daily necessity on tour) took us to lunch, took us to dinner at the French rest. Mike works at...and were just awesome fans and great people. They also got a lot of their friends into the band, so even tho' the crowd that night was tiny, they made up for it in enthusiasm and knowledgeability...see Kristy's 'dream set list' t-shirt...in fact, we did most of her requests and that pretty much made the set list....

The club itself is surely one of the dive-iest of dives...a doublewide trailer mounted on a concrete slab...spray foam insulation painted black on the inside. No amenities whatsoever...not even bottled water! But, it turned out to be a fun night...rousing version of 'Compliment'...thanks to the Bham 3...

ATLANTA 9/22

Birmingham was the start of a nonstop 25 shows in a row run...most bands I know have never undertaken such a feat...shows you our love of bringing the rock to the people. Go to any other band's website, and look at how many shows a week they do...remember they may have a tour bus that makes the travel virtually without impact...we drive ourselves (actually, Joe Norcio drives)...not a complaint, at all...just trying to show our level of commitment to what we do.

Anyway, great instore at Criminal records...I got a Chris Stamey rec. for free (thanks!) plus we were given all the back issues and DVDs that the Chunklet people could bring...and a killer BBQ recommendation for Nashville (we'll get to that).

The show at the Earl was one of the best of the tour....amazing crowd...we were feeling the flames of the volcano god...stormin’.

Thanks very much to George, Ali and Chris who took us into their homes after the show....

NASHVILLE 9/23

Got to town early, spent an hour with our friend Rebekah and her many doggies, sipping ginger ale and what not. Moved into town and loaded in…I walked down the road to Hog Heaven BBQ (thanks Henry)—a must do in ‘shville for the meat inclined. Pulled turkey breast with white sauce…that’s the shizzz. Hmmm. Ahh. Ahem. Walked back in the blazing heat and soundchecked…great sounding stage at the Exit/In. E/I was the site of great Posies shows in 1993 and 1996 (where Tom Peterson and Rick Nielsen joined us onstage for a slaying version of Surrender) and a rather s-s-slushy acoustic show in 2000. Another fine instore at Grimey’s…zipped over to the radio station at Vanderbilt U. for a surreal and fun interview…then we went back to the already closed Grimey’s to retrieve our forgotten guitar cables! Thanks to Meshelle for driving us around! We dined that night at the Elliston Strip’s greasiest spoon, the Goldrush…where all the servers are named Abigail for some reason. And then….the show! We turned the audience around and had them view the show from drummer perspective…i.e., they can now hear that the guitar amps are too loud and they have to look at our butts. They loved it! We passed out a few free beers to the folks we had gathered onstage…a few folks stayed on til the end even when Jon & I abandoned them and jumped off the stage…one poor gal was obviously a very big fan, but had drank too much and was singing along VERY loud and VERY out of tune in the front row (and, when the audience was onstage, into Jon’s mic). Even during our little acoustic interlude, where we did a version of ‘Unsatisfied’ it was, shall we say, marred by her enthusiasm. But, all in all, a great night. During ‘Grant Hart’
Jon’s tricky knee popped out of joint…he left the stage (somehow I missed all this as) and ran into the bathroom that was right off stage and bashed it against the wall in there…and made it back for his cue at the end….

ATHENS 9/24

Another more-than-full day of rocktivity. Big Star-flavored instore at Schoolkids records…lengthy interview and performance on WUOG…and a fairly involved soundcheck…Adam, house engineer at the Tasty World had made peanut butter ribs…you don’t get that at Carnegie Hall, mofos….I ducked out after the radio interview to attend a dinner party in honor up the upcoming nuptials/retirement of one of REM’s office employees, where I got to see the band/office folks/friends etc. under one roof with wine and food to boot. Mills gave me a lift over to the club, and it was pretty much time to go on when I arrived. And, I believe, we delivered a fierce rock show to the faithful. Many thanks to Dewitt for taking care of us, thanks to Phil for driving, and thanks to Mike for the guest rooms…

CHAPEL HIL 9/25

Sleepy Sunday. NOT…!! Another toasty, sweaty rock concert…what can we say…we’re on a freakin rr-o-o-o-ollll…about 800 degrees onstage and I only took my shirt off. Rick Chertoff. Lynn and Dave took us *and* Deathray Daveis into their home…Dave is the trash can basher for SCOTS…Lynn has been a friend of ours for quite a few years…somehow, everyone was so into rockin’ Bocephus on the jukebox and slugging Jameson’s that they didn’t notice the only unclaimed space in the house was the guest bedroom!! I snagged it and locked the door…as I fell asleep I heard the new Big Star album being played…in the morning Lynn had already done a bagel run and put coffee on…*and* she had a good iron and ironing board for me to use! Bless her heart!

Apologies to Chris Stamey for not getting our act together for a grand finale Posies-CS-Big Star etc. epic jam. My bad.

WASHINGTON 9/26

Perhaps the best run club in the country? I wish the Black Cat had more competitors for the title. But, the Black Cat always stands out…top class production, the people working there are knowledgeable and on the case, the shows are promoted, people show up…OK, this show was 10/10. We visited Revolution records that afternoon, cool little store on CT Ave. I thought our versions of ‘Beautiful One’ that day, at the store and at the club, were both tear-jerkers…really, it’s only when I have stuff to complain about that I have that much to say. The last few shows have been put together well, advertised well, with great audiences, and we have played furiously. And we’ve seen our friends. And eaten like kings (Mama Dip’s in Chapel Hill…Sonny’s BBQ in Tallahassee…) this is what it’s all about…and as I write we’re heading towards the fall colors…

Love
KS
on the highway near Wilmington DE

9.19.2005

NEW TOUR DATE IN KANSAS CITY

The Posies have added another show--Oct. 12 at...now, how does this kind of thing happen...a club called the Hurricane...in Kansas City MO. More dates still coming...and now, the reviews:

TUCSON 9/11

Welcome to the sleepy part of the USA. Best countryside to drive thru, AZ ans NM. The fact I couldn't find a NY Times anywhere didn't matter as I just looked out the window and marvelled at the scenery.

Tucson show was a fine rock event, not a ton of folks, but everyone there was...cool. Dare I say, *sexy*, even. Weird. You don't expect that outside of New York and Monte Carlo. The folks from KAMP radio at the Univ. were outstanding and our host/interviewer there was asking questions about White Flag, that's a complete-ist for you!

ALBUQUERQUE 9/12

Got to town with enough spare time to eat, do banking and Fed Ex-ing, check email...it took a few days for us to get into the groove and figure out how to trick ourselves into leaving with enough time to actually get where we're going!

Another sparsely attended event...HOWEVER, there were two amazing and lovely sisters...one studying math & dance (imagine the possibilites!) and the other a poet...tearing up the floor, major props! People enjoyed themselves no doubt. A few ex-Seattleites in the house. A friend of a friend, Seth, took us into his house afterwards for a place to crash--I opened a $100 bottle of dessert wine...a Chambers Rosewood Rare Muscat (100 pts from Robert Parker) and, shared it (a little, anyway!)

DALLAS 9/14

We didn't leave ABQ in a hurry...we had a day to get to Dallas (although that's about what it takes). We had lunch at a fantastic little place on Harvard off of Central, so near the campus...green chile enchiladas, yeh...and spent all day in the van. I watched the scenery again...until we got into Texas, when everything really flattens out...it's kind of an anti-landscape at that point. But in Texas that night we witnessed a massive t-storm, that we never actually collided with but it was happening in every direction around us, always about 10 miles off from whereever we were. I watched Hal Hartley's excellent film 'the Book of Life' which imagines in fantasticly novel way Jesus returning to make the last judgement...PJ Harvey at his side...yeh, not showing alongside the Mel Gibson movie any time soon. Thomas Jay Ryan is OUTSTANDING as Satan. Pulled into Dallas late and night, and we had been given the keys to two of the guys in Deathray Davies' apartments...so we had nice homes to stay in, all to ourselves...that way, the next day, we could sleep in, take our time getting down to the gig.

And the gig--bets merch night of the tour, which means lots of great hardcore fans! We got our rock on, and had a great time. The promoter had to pay us in part in $1 dollar bills! Nightmare!

We also had a fantastic instore performance at Good Records...those folks are absolutely the coolest...they turned me on to a new band whose record they are releasing on the Good Records imprint, called Pilotdrift. Unbelieveable...

AUSTIN 9/15

Well, sometimes, no one shows up. Hmmm. Where was everybody? We blasted a ton of rock & roll energy at the folks who did come... hey...not to focus on the negative...but...where the hell *was* everybody?

Great accomodations at Matt's dad's house...what super folks he has. We had a big ol' barbecue dinner at their place on the night off (when our Houston show would have been). Thanks Zeke & Sally! You are both amazing!!!

Also on the night off I zipped down to see Earlimart and Son Volt at Stubbs BBQ (where 3/4 of the Posies dined on show night). Met friends (Holly, Susan, Brenda--thank you all!!!). There were interactions with many local friends, a friendly chat with the Wallflowers...fine times indeed.

BATON ROUGE 9/17

We really didn't know what to expect rolling into town. What we enountered was a town that seemed almost empty--which is absolutely bizarre considering the population has more than doubled with the arrival of evacuees. Almost no traffic on the street, nobody walking around. LSU was totally tumbleweed city (but, Peyton J. was kind enough to have us on his show at KLSU). Evidently our show was one of the first, if not the first appearance by a touring band in town. Our appearance was at least some kind of relief for our dear friends Heidi and Laura--we were glad to see them--sad that it wasn't in NOLA where it would have been--and they were glad to see us (at least they said they were!!). Folks started to trickle in, as the first band, Knoxville's excellent Dixie Dirt, started to play.

By the time we went on there was a modest but lively crowd...'That Don't Fly' was performed...and 'Precious Moments' in our acoustic encore...both songs shocked me with how many words seemed resonant, painful and sorrowfully in tune with the feeling of that place, that time.

MEMPHIS 9/18

No places to stay in Baton Rouge...or anywhere within 200 miles of there, so we hauled it overnight-style to Memphis, rolled into town at about noon (we stopped somewhere and slept in the van--props to Joe Norcio for taking it to the limit at the wheel, tho' and getting us to town safely. Checked into our hotel, got cleaned up...and suddenly we didn't seem so tired.

Tonight's show was, I think, the best we've played since Tucson....the sound onstage was great, we felt unified and tight and on the right wavelength...always a pleasure to see Jody Stephens. Great set from Brad P. who I know from the band Snowglobe....all in all, a very satisfying night.

Cut posting a *little* short as it's bed time and we're wheels up at 7...

Love
KS
Memphis TN

9.11.2005

TOUR UPDATES --HOUSTON OFF, MEMPHIS ON

With all the tragic, insane stuff happening in our country, it’s not surprising that a tour that crosses it twice would encounter all kinds of craziness along the way. In light of the situation in the south, as you already know our show in New Orleans that was to have been Sept. 18th was cancelled. We have now rebooked a show for that same date at the Hi Tone in Memphis. Also, our show in Houston on the 16th of September is also cancelled, due to the situation there. Evidently the club has shut itself down until further notice. We won’t be playing anywhere else that night. So…we get to spend an extra night in Austin at Matt’s dad’s! We are still working on shows for Oct. 16th-18th but with all the Hurricane craziness there have been more urgent fires to put out. Note: our show in Baton Rouge on the 17th of Sept. is still on. Can only imagine it will be an intense night.

SAN FRANCISCO, 9/7

Well, we couldn’t have enjoyed the drive any more. Stopping for Hawaiian BBQ somewhere in Oregon, looking at the green mountains around Grant’s Pass…I even had time to watch ‘the Magnificent Seven’ on DVD. Our van is a sweet ride, and Joe Norcio is doing a manly job of driving the rig. I got in a brief snooze. We got into SF a little past midnight. Easy. I stayed in Darius’ sister’s guest house, has a superb breakfast in the morning…bought an Ipod at the Apple store…bought the Vice magazine ‘Fashion Do’s and Don’ts’…heaven. Had a massage from the only MT that gets it done right, Tanya (simply put, she’s the only person strong enough to work out my Posie-inflicted kinks and knots). We got to the club on time. We soundchecked. All seemed well.

And, it was. While I can’t say it was the wildest show of our career (Bumbershoot, just a few days prior, was up there), I can say we played really well. For some reason, audiences at Slim’s always seem a little scared. I don’t know what’s up with that.

Scott Miller danced onstage, Chris Xefos was heckled. No complaints, I merely hope the audience enjoyed it too! I couldn’t tell, but it’s often hard to tell. I know, at many of my favorite shows, if you saw me you might not be able to tell how into it I was. If I am into it, I’m trying to concentrate on every minute, take it all in, and to do that…I pretty much stand stock still. Maybe bounce my head a bit. When I’m on the other side, it’s pretty hard to detect the difference between enraptured and bored. Weird huh? I should know from my own experience but I find it impossible. So, if you want to write and let me know how you liked the Slim’s show, do tell!

HOLLYWOOD, 9/8

Of this show I have no doubt—it was a rocker. Epic set list, LOUD front of house sound, awesome crowd, and lots of friends in the crowd. Can’t do better than that. No complaints! So good I was still tired the next day, and thus fell asleep face down in the driveway of the Roosevelt Hotel.

SAN DIEGO 9/9

Still a little worn out from the Knitting Factory show, I sort of woke up when we were already playing a couple of songs at Lou’s records in Encinitas. We set up and soundchecked and what not at the Casbah. I went and took a nap. Woke up at 11, spent 5 minutes miming to the camera for a White Flag video, and rushed down to the club. Tried to make tequila substitute for a good night’s sleep. It doesn’t, in fact, work. Was so tired when we got to Adam G’s place (thanks buddy!) that I fell asleep, fully clothed and with my jacket on, on the bathroom floor. Pretty comfortable, actually.

TEMPE 9/10

Got our of town and immediately marveled at the landscape that San Diego provides just half an hour out of town. Like mars turning inside out on itself…absurdly shaped hills breaded with giant flat stones, all twisting and breaking like a glacial seizure. Then the desert flattens out, but only after a magnificent descent into the Ocotillo, if I recall the name correctly, Valley. After a while the hot pavement got the best of one of the tires on the trailer. A big chunk of tread came off. Amazingly, the tire held its integrity and we were able to drive, slowly, to El Centro CA and find a U-Haul place. They directed us to a repair shop, out in the hot dusty wind, where we got patched up, played with their puppies and signed a few autographs. It all happened as quickly as possible, but it still set us back enough that we had to cancel our instore at Stinkweeds rec.

Saturday was a big game day in Tempe, with the LSU football game moved to Tempe. Like any big university town on game day, everyone was wearing the same colors and putting lots of Bud on ice. We made it town just in time to visit the Blaze or whatever the university station is called…the supervisor to the students in the broadcasting dept. there is one Leah Collins nee Miller, who has been playing the Posies on college radio since 1988 and has been at many a Posies show around the US over the years. Her students were lots of fun, our interviewer was conducting her first interview with us as the guinea pigs which I thought was very sweet. Played a couple of songs and put a lot of surreal humor out over the airwaves…

At the Last Exit we had fun times, I still think Bumbershoot and Hollywood would be hard to beat from our point of view, but I have to admit there were some awesome diehard fans there—from the bass player of the opening band to a 22-year-old comedienne/documentarian (meaning she eats documents?). Peabody, i.e., the only guy in the building with a rush shirt on, evidently joined us onstage in 1993 to play bass on Flavor of the Month—I didn’t remember the occasion, but I had a lot on my mind evidently back then…hmmm. Anyway, we got him up again and he nailed it. Being that he had a Rush shirt on, when Matt showed him our Rush-influenced merch, he pissed himself!

I had some new underwear on, I had to get those out in public. All of a sudden everybody had to go, which was fine as I was tired and we had a really nice hotel to stay in…with a pool, which I did swim in that night. That feels the best, after a sweaty show, to hop in a pool. Benicassim was great for that. Hard to put a pool on the rider tho’.

Love
KS
Tempe AZ

9.05.2005

KICK IT OFF, YO!!!!!

Firstly: recent news has come to me that Alex Chilton is now in Houston, and thus is no longer among the missing. Welcome back to the headcount, AC. Glad you're safe.

On a lighter note, we depart tomorrow for the Posies USA/Canada tour...bring your shiny, sweaty faces down to the rock shop sock hop in your town, and gets your rocks off.

Show-verview, number 1!

SEATTLE, 9/4

Thanks to KNDD for having us down to tape a couple of acousticy versions of EKOL songs and chat a bit--I believe all that will air this week. Knowing we were going to be broadcast a week later, which would be after the Bumbershoot show which at the time of the interview was two days away, I took a chance and said it had been the greatest performance in the history of music, live or recorded.

Damn if I wasn't right! I had spent the time between our Friday morning KNDD visit and the Bumbershoot show largely in bed. I came back from France with a pretty serious cold, and had to bow out of seeing Chris Stamey at Bumbershoot, Robyn Hitchcock at the Crocodile Cafe, and hanging out with most of my REM bandmates on Friday...damn if I didn't sleep 16 hours tho. Saturday I finally felt OK enough to sneak out to the Gorge and see Tom Petty (former Posies FOH Mark Newman was working for the Black Crowes). The drive and solitude and full blast music all helped. Listened to a really great demo someone sent me, a band from Jackson MS called Living Better Electrically....fine, fine music.

As I pulled my car in to the loading area for the Backyard Stage at Bumbershoot on Sunday, a few pellet-like rain blops fell on my windshield. Within 20 minutes, Monsoon City. It faded out and in over the course of the rest of the night. As I started to line check my gear, there were quite a few friendly faces at the front of the stage. By the time we played, the curious and the lost started to fill up the place. And, I have to say...considering how sick I'd been, and the fact that not playing for two weeks and playing a Posies show is like not walking for two weeks and trying to run the Boston Marathon, we blew the doors (off a place that was outdoors already). Fun, mayhem, near-nudity augemented by plastic ponchos...damn, martian! The crowd was everything you'd want from a hometown crowd...except for that guy I always see at our shows who was throwing grass at us this night. One guy who would have been able to remember the 1960s had he not lived thru them, spent the whole set with one hand clamped over his eyes, the other bobbing in front of him in our direction....'it's too heavy, man...you're blowing my mind!". Respect. I had a blast, in other words. Mike Musberger, Posies 1988-1994 and 1998-1999 drummer, was there with his twin boys...my family was there (OK, my mom left when it started to rain real hard)...everybody was friendly and nice...also, many thanks to Michael from Guitar Center who ran me over a new EBow....! Mine somehow never made it home from the European tour.

After the show, matt, Posies mgr. Larry Little (who has been working with us for 4 months but who I hadn't met until Friday!!)
and his lovely gal, plus local pals walked over to see Billy Preston play a few songs (incl. a killer Hammond jam on Amazing Grace) and then walked on and we jumped into Posies show #2 for the day...an instore performance at Easy Street Records. Down and dirty, we played a set of songs we called out as we went along, stuff we didn't play at the other show...including the first ever live version of 'Last Crawl'...by the late part of the set, I could hear Matt starting to get...funky...so, we called it a night...3 hours of music in one day! We signed some records, I played tunes from my laptop...we all gave John Roderick some crap about his Buggles shades, and...I went to bed...I love rock & roll!!

Now, the good shit starts going down...see you very soon at a theatre near yew.

Love
KS
Seattle

9.02.2005

INUNDATED

Not meaning to be insensitive, it is only as I come back to the US and have access to more English language media that I am now fully aware of the devastation of New Orleans. My access to newspapers, TV, websites etc. was very limited while I was on Ile de Re. My heart goes out to my friends there, at least one of which is now homeless. And of course, to the uncountable thousands whose lives are lost, in peril, or in trauma. We have yet to locate Alex Chilton, and of course hope he's hanging out somewhere safe and dry.

Needless to say, our show at TwiRoPa that was to have been this month is cancelled. No other dates appear to have been affected to that point.

There are numerous opportunities to donate to vitims of the hurricane and flood. Google's home page has a link to Red Cross donations via Amazon.com

MoveOn.org is asking for people willing to take people into their homes.

Love
KS
Seattle

The latest release by Ken Stringfellow is a split EP with Spain's Muy Fellini, featuring never-heard-before music incl. Ken's take on Bob Dylan, released by
King of Patio records
in Spain on Oct 8, 2009.

Order it directly from Muy Fellini here www.myspace.com/muyfellini
10" VINYL ONLY!!!