I should note: DRM-free lossless (full-quality) downloads make an excellent gift. Eco-friendly and space-saving, they will delight the lucky recipient for years to come (you can also throw ‘em on a disc, ipod, or memory stick, make custom artwork for a loved one, or convert to binary code for a puzzle you can spend a lifetime working on!)

Also available are Plover and most of my catalog.

Please feel free to spread the word - Bandcamp allows you to embed players in your blog or social networking site. Just like this:

Enjoy.

My friends Abe Powell and Bryan Field-Elliot have created MountainDriveCommunityAssociation.org to provide resources for Tea Fire victims and those who would like to help them. The site is unique in that registered victims can list specific needs and contributors can list specific resources. Links to relief organizations and bulletins listing meetings and events for Tea Fire victims (MDCA, Red Cross, FEMA and more) are also at the site.

Photos by Laurel and me are here. If you’d like to see pictures from our friend Cara Peace, go here..

Our house is adjacent to a staging area, so we won’t get too worried unless we hear all the firetrucks moving out.

Thanks so much for the concern and good wishes.

No, it is not me singing “Saved By Zero”. And yes, I think I would have said yes if they’d asked me. I have three girls going to college some day…

If you’re voting for McCain in this election because his platform is what you want to see in government, then…well…we can talk about that some other time. The people I’m interested in right now are the ones voting for McCain because they are scared of Barack Obama being a stealthy terrorist, or Muslim, or Elitist, or the Antichrist, or Black Power radical, or having a scary middle name, or having a bad Christian preacher, or being a Marxist, or just plain old being black.  I have met people who believe pretty much anything about Obama as long as it’s negative, no matter how self-contradictory those beliefs are. Those people, without fail, have been consumers of Fox News, Rush, Hannity, O’Reilly and the like.

What I’d like to beg of you is this: If you are voting for McCain not because you like his policy, but because of the endless string of ads, emails, robocalls and media talking heads filling you with fear, take a moment - just one hour (heck, 15 minutes) - to look for sources elsewhere. Try some different websites, some new news sources (maybe something not owned by ClearChannel or Murdoch). Read entire speeches by both candidates, not just decontextualized soundbites. Take a single step back and think that maybe we aren’t living in a comic book. Maybe this positive, composed, intelligent, respectful man who is asking us to stand up for each other and believe in our best nature is presicely what he seems. Maybe it’s a little crazy to think that Obama’s going to turn into a supervillian the moment he steps into the oval office. Maybe it’s more likely that people who want him to lose are spreading as much hate about him as they can because they know they can’t win on the issues.

Anyway - that’s my request. Just consider the possibility that we have two imperfect but decent men running for office, and vote for the things they actually say and do instead of what their opposition says about them.

A simple and interesting place to start is: FactCheck.org, and you can also go to C-SPAN for audio and video of speeches and debates.

Thanks, all…

Thanks for the nice words about the Plover project. We had a great time making the record. Don’t be afraid of spreading the word - there’s no label or manager or anything, so nobody will know unless you tell them…

Also - there’s a placeholder website for Works Progress Administration where you can hear the song “Always Have My Love”. We also have a Myspace page, but our songs disappeared from the player, and I get error messages when I try to erase or replace them. I’m five letters deep with tech support, but they just keep sending me generic faq answers. Sorry for the inconvenience.

And I’m remembering that I forgot to eat the most important meal of the day. I was booking flights and hotels for the next few weeks, and my mug of French pressed rocket fuel is burning a hole in my stomach. Typical. One more thing and I’ll go eat something.

Laurel and the kids went over to Santa Ynez this morning to pick grapes with a bunch of our friends. I’ll be joining them in the afternoon for a good old fashioned stomp. It’s a yearly even that’s been going on in the Mountain Drive community for around 40 years. A queen is chosen, feet become purple, and months later some delicious wine is passed around. David Lafond, excellent father/person/winemaker is a Mountain Drive local, and provides the knowhow. If you’re curious about his non-foot-stomped wines, you can go to Lafond Winery to learn more.

And the Plover album (short album? long ep?) is done! Visit the minimalist site! Stream the entire record! Buy the entire record! Have a nice relaxing bath!

All that said - I’m in very good spirits, and looking forward to getting back in the studio and on the road. I might need to buy some boas for my temporary new role as guitarless lead singer…

Thanks again for all the kind thoughts, emails, and cookies. Y’all rock.

For an update - I’ll have to cancel my shows for next week, but Jonatha will still be playing, and I’d highly recommend checking her show out if you haven’t seen her live before. I should be able to be back on the road (with an accompinaist) for the show on the 31st in Northampton. Perhaps my costume will be the One-Armed Man from the Fugitive…

I’ll be having surgery tomorrow morning, and will know much more about the state of my nerves after the doctor has had a chance to poke around in there. I currently have an 80% loss of ulnar nerve function below the elbow in the left arm, and the speed and degree of recovery will depend on the precise nature of the damage and numerous other, less predictable factors.

All said, I’m in surprisingly good spirits. It’s going to be a challenge to get to the other side of this, but I’ve been feeling like I needed a new challenge recently. This isn’t exacly the one I expected, but what ever really is?

Here’s my myspace style picture from my phone in the emergency room: