One of the many perks over my month or so touring in support of The Overrated Book was meeting fellow freaks across the country. And without exception, Shake It in Cincinnati is home to one of my favorite freaks. So, Billy Carter? This one’s for you, buddy!  

So I get an impassioned email last week from Billy (no relation to the beer) saying to strap myself in for the most essential and/or damaged bootleg ever. And I wait. And it shows up. And I put it in my CD player. And you know what? He’s absolutely 100% right. I sure hope you can read the liner notes ‘coz I sure as hell ain’t typin’ it in.  

I know I made this point in a previous entry, but Shake It Records currently ranking as one of my top 3 record stores in the country. I’m sorry, fellas, but I’m not including Amoeba in this listing because that’s just unfair. Including Amoeba is like including Powell’s Books in Portland when talking about book stores. It’s just crooked pool. Oh, and in case you’re wondering other great record stores (in an attempt to size up my tastes) I’d have to include Princeton Record Exhange, Jerry’s Records in Pittsburgh (where I spent 80% of my student loan checks) and, of course, Aquarius Records. I’ve been to my share of record stores. There’s plenty of others. Other Music, Sonic Boom, Waterloo, Jackpot, Twisted Village…. But damn, Billy just was too quick to let me go look thru their untouched stock in the back and well…..I’m only human. I think I spent $350 when I was there last month and I still feel like I got the deal of the century. Any other recommendations for record stores? Anybody?

Kraftwerk – Heavy Metal Kids
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Kraftwerk – K1
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Kraftwerk – K2 (Ruckzuck)
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Kraftwerk – K3
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Kraftwerk – K4
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You know, I love Jay Ryan. I mean, he’s not only a great guy, a great bass player and a great illustrator, but he was more than happy to oblige my hair-brained idea for the poster celebrating the 13th anniversary of clowns, robots and little nerdy kids fighting each other…..

Of course, I spotted that Jay omitted Mr. Yow from the poster which was easily remedied on the final version. These’ll be available on the site after the party…providing there are any left. Then again, Athens is legendary when it comes to doing horribly with merch sales….. So I might actually have a ton to sell on here. We’ll see.

So as many of you have already gathered, there’ll be a special present for sale at the Chunklet 13th anniversary and here’s its first sighting!

Selling ten of these on eBay to finance the printing. Any money left over will go toward Nuçi’s Space in Athens. Let the bidding begin at one dollar….

I think just because of bandwidth issues, this posting will not be here for very long….

After the Hold Steady’s show that I put on back in February, THS guitarist Tad Kubler got a tattoo that Chunklet designed for him. And no, this isn’t photoshop work. Of course, in tribute to it, I made it the poster for the show this last week at the EARL.

The show itself was great. A super rowdy crowd, but I guess there are worse things to complain about…….

These files have been taken down due to a lack of server space.

The Hold Steady – Part one
The Hold Steady – Both encores

Bilheimer and I were saying it’d be a cryin’ shame to have that lovely illustration be just for a single show poster so behold! A special sumpin’ we’re giving out at the Chunklet 13th anniversary (with purchase, ‘natch!).

I really can’t think of anything I’d rather have dangling from my rear view mirror……can you?

I have been recording all of the Comedians of Comedy tours in the hope that eventually we’d have a comedy morsel to release. And well, in Chicago it finally happened!

Recorded back in April at the Logan Square Auditorium, "The Pennsylvania Macaroni Company" was engineered and designed by yours truly with mixing/editing help by my buddies Curt Wells and Jeff Capurso. We really couldn’t have ended the tour on any higher a note. Patton brought all of us (Brian Posehn, Maria Bamford, Eugene Mirman and myself) on stage to let the crowd know what being stuck in a van together for 2 weeks was like. And even though I’ve listened to this thing 100 times, it’s still hilarious. I can’t wait for those kids over at AST to pick up on this. It’s genius.
Oh, the bad news? "Patton Versus Alcohol Versus Zach Versus Alcohol" is now out of print. Hello eBay!

I’m sure that chunklet.com is appearing like a Harvey Milk shrine right now, but you know what? That’s okay. 10 years after breaking up, they’ve released a new album, a single,  had one CD reissued and a DVD put out in a span of two months! Oh, and they’re also playing three Chunklet sponsored shows at the end of October! I know, it never seems to end.

Tickets are on sale right now which, if I were a bettin’ man, I would buy now because well, it’ll easily sell out…..
Doing two different versions of this poster. The above poster was a collaborative effort with Stephen O’Malley. The lower one is a collaboration with Zach Hobbs outta Tennessee. Both were hella fun.
Now is also a good time to pine about the merits of one of Atlanta’s sorely underappreciated bands, The Tenement Halls.

I’m sure many of you might remember me blathering about Chris Lopez’s earlier band The Rock*A*Teens in Chunklet, and some of you might remember when Stephen Tanner (from Harvey Milk) and Lopez were in Seersucker together around 1991. Ah, Seersucker. Those were the days. Chris’ post-Dirt noise project before he started up the RATS and damned if they weren’t a masterpiece between the two extremes of Dirt’s scree and the RATS Phil Spector-inspired pop. Wait, was that really fifteen years ago? Anyway……
Chris has definitely settled down in recent years. Chris doesn’t resort to getting shit-hammered drunk before going on stage. Bought a house. Got married. Now has a baby son named Guthrie. Things are great. And you know what? It shows in Tenement Halls. Clearly. I’m including 2 mp3s of Seersucker and two live mp3s of Tenement Halls before they even had a record out playing at the EARL a few years back. Such lovely racket. I couldn’t imagine it coming from anywhere other than my fair state of Georgia.

Seersucker-Smokestack
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Seersucker-Rodney+Starlet
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Tenement Halls-My Wicked Wicked Ways (live Atlanta ’04)
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Tenement Halls-Charlemagne (live Atlanta ’04)
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Illustrated by Lauren Gregg and designed by the lovely Chris Bilheimer. Buy tickets now!

I’m sure there’ll be some left over after the shows here. I’ll probably sell ’em on the site. Be patient.

And this poster is for a show in Chapel Hill in mid-November! Whee!

Got a few left over from the tour that I’m selling. Get ’em quick!

One funny observation from Dante at the Black Cat which holds true is that the COC fans are quite big. As in girth-wise. We have plenty of small shirts, but the XXL and XXXL are all but gone! Jesus christ, guys, you guys eat too much!

Harvey Milk Anthem  * * * * (four stars)
Athens sludge-rawk heroes Harvey Milk are the archetypal “cult band”: Few people know of them, but those who do revere them. The makers of this highly limited and exquisitely designed DVD clearly count themselves among such devotees. A true labor of love, it collects three-and-a-half hours’ worth (44 songs) of live footage from ’93 to ’05, showcasing the trio at its atavistic best: destroying guitars, using sledgehammers as instruments, and beating gongs with flaming drumsticks. Watch, and welcome to the cult.
–Brandon Geist