we’re leaving for a long california weekend tomorrow and i’m finally getting my packing done. it’s hard to cram merch, cds, pedals, and a guitar in a carry-on suitcase. this calls for some extreme measures. i might have to “check” some baggage. the horror. anyways, drummer brian and i are flying out of nashville and hooking up with jerry in el lay. our pals duke and sylvia have hooked us up big time with some cool shows and lodging. a guy i’ve never met, stan, will be our bass player for the shows and none of it could be done if our boy diaz wasn’t providing all the gear. cheers all around. it’s all out of our hands and i couldn’t be happier. nothing’s getting in the way of my california vacation.

first thing’s first: i’d like to send a shout-out to dr. bernstein for the zyrtec and flonase scripts – the 1-2 knockout combo for this brutal allergy season. alright, a hearty thanks for the friends, fans, and innocent bystanders at our virgin megastore and trees shows. thanks to the deathray davies too. here’s the quick scoop:

the nashville guys got to mesquite around 3:30 am on saturday morning and crashed at the dewese house. the irrepressible jackson chang and i showed up around 11:00am for a darn good texas breakfast and my favorite iced tea by doris dewese. we ran through a bunch of songs, jetpack stephen showed off his pants, and we headed out to virgin for the quick in-store. unfortunately, after a week of dry weather, saturday was relentless rainy. man alive, we ended up driving and loading/unloading in some nasty weather. by the time we played, we were soaking wet. hilarious. we went to jackson’s house for some fancy racecar video game, showers, and use of the dryer before heading to trees for mexican food and the usual hi-jinks. anyhow, we met some really nice folks and couldn’t have been happier with the show. high thanks to elizabeth and the deathray davies. we played these songs:

Terror on the Tarmac
I’m Still in Love
The Lazy Librarian’s Son
Harvard Hands
August Moon
Hesitation Eyes
Are You Tired?
Irene
Left Sideways

in other news, these days i’m buying $60 bedsheets. this is not a joke. who knew i’d care about thread counts?

well, it’s tax time and i still haven’t even looked at my w2. heck, i’m not even sure where it is. meanwhile, it’s nearly 10:00 and i should figure out how to file an extension asap. which explains why i’m writing a journal entry.

what a week! i had a root canal, saw the jandek documentary, ate fried chicken at babe’s, and found myself in a traffic accident (i was in the back seat). anyhow, the big news is we’re playing a show next month. so, finally…..if you’ve been following us since the release of the silver leaves e.p. back in 1998 and never got the chance to see us, well….here it is. we’re playing at trees on may 28th with the deathray davies. this is going to be the best foxymorons line-up yet. our pals in jetpack will be playing with us, hesitation eyes drummer brian fuzzell will man the kit, and our secret weapon jackson chang will play keys, tamborines, and shake his hips. oh yeah, and david and i will be there too. man, i love the summer.

our ‘gang’ has been calling 2004 a “break-out year” since last january. and despite some skepticism early on, guess what – it really turned out that way. sure there have been bust-ups, relocations, tough jobs, broken friendships, etc. not to mention the ongoing class envy that we can’t seem to get past. but there’s also been some real progress. we’re going into 2005 better human beings, i think.

the last couple of years have been transitional – “building years” if you will. but we’ve turned a corner. we’re seeing the proverbial silver linings, even in less important things. sure, the life aquatic was a sprawling mess, a real disappointment. but think of that loretta lynn record.

our thoughts and prayers are with the asia tsunami victims.
geesh, we can’t find the words so i’ll stop here.

big star/third

van dyke parks/song cycle

rififi by dassin

where was i last year at this time? where were you?

speeding down the bel air stretch of sunset blvd

ripping off the intro: ‘father to a sister of thought….’

this is the discreet charm of the foxymorons

last-minute el lay diversions:

beers at the roost

running into (quite literally) eleanor friedberger at the thrift store

orange grove walk-and-talks

my inbox has been flooded with complaints regarding the last journal entry. the gripes ranged from the whiny (angela writes “why was the blog so loooong?”), to the nitpicky (mohinder grumbles “why does david say ‘sweet’ and ‘wicked’? is he making fun of us?”) to the unimpeachably true (tameka from houston gushes “jerry, your [sic] the cute one anyway. come back.”)

so i’m glad to be back. unfortunately, i don’t have much to share except that i’m writing songs and feeling like a million dollars. i saw lou barlow and jake at the troubadour for the sebadoh “turbo acoustic” tour and they were uncharacteristically funny and high-spirited. i picknicked with friends at the hollywood bowl while taking in the l.a. philharmonic and nickel creek. (btw, the girl in nickel creek is a pure delight. everytime i see her she charms the pants off me.) and i successfully avoided getting hit by a cue stick during a brawl at the little joy bar in echo park. other than that, i plunked down $35 for the criterion edition of ‘slacker’. i couldn’t help it – it’s a 90′s art film made by texans. i liked it more than i remembered 10 years back. it brings back recent memories of riding the 101 bus down guadalupe with an assorted collection of alcoholics, schizophrenics, pot dealers, anarchists, gg allin lovers, cigarette rollers, alien fanatics and conspiracy theorists. those were the days.

blueberry pancakes and coffee at the griddle, sunset

daily walk around my neighborhood after work

tonight’s the night

murakami, norwegian wood

weekday nights at the roost

ali g, season 1

breakfast at trudy’s this weekend?

looks like i’ll be back in dallas soon. hesitation eyes in february 05?

ahhh…..there’s nothing like driving around el lay listening to yo la tengo’s fakebook and basking in the summer sun. someday soon i’ll find time to do that. instead, i’ve been reading more john fante, kicking television, listening to the will johnson solo album, playing with dogs, watching movies (the third man, last year in marienbad, old school), and laying around the chateau marmont bungalow #81 rocking the flying burritos bros. but life’s not a bed of roses, as my shoulder hurts like heck (among other maladies, emotional and other, we’re suffering). by the way, you’ll eventually hear the sorrow on our new record of mournful pop songs; (i feel obliged to mention “the new record” in every blog). the old 97′s are playing amoeba tonite and i’ll be there, if only to watch murry hammond “ooh” and “ahh”. i love the band, but don’t ask me to weigh in on the new one. dd gets here tomorrow morning and it will be on like donkey kong…………….later friends. why don’t you say hi?

the summer issue….5 things we recommend:

‘all my friends are going to be strangers’ by mcmurtry

a sunday afternoon hike in griffith park

the loretta lynn record

order a chocolate milkshake for no reason

cancel the cable

5 more things:

avoid music magazines

…and anyone on the atkins diet

get up early on the weekends

if you want to sing out, sing out….

no more prez bashing

i’m tired

greetings from my apt in el lay (across from the slightly upscale liquor store on sunset for the assassins in our audience.) so david finally got the journal back up and i’m ready to ramble. first the good news, sistren and brethren: the new foxymorons album is in the hands of our friend and favourite delicate genius, matt pence. man alive, i really couldn’t feel better about it. 11 or 12 (maybe 13?) songs about heartbreak, ivy league grade inflation, and the queue for centre court at wimbledon. failure and footfaults. libraries and somersaults. what else? i saw david cross at largo last night and i have to say, he sure knows how to deliver a joke. that said, oddly enough, i wouldn’t want to have a beer with him. hmm…christmas in mesquite was as good as it gets (even if it cost me an evening with arthur lee and love.) although, david and i got scolded at wal-mart for playing touch football in the aisles at 2 am. what a crock. at least the ice cream sandwiches were good. i know it’s march already, but i hope your holiday season was as fun and blessed as mine.

thumbs up: owen wilson on the oscars, my new laptop speakers, rushmore criterion, diane sawyer, the rolling stones’ ‘between the buttons’, 1st chinese bbq on josey & beltline, people who don’t use cell phones.

thumbs down: girls who use the word cocktails (isn’t ‘drinks’ good enough?), dd’s use of the word “wicked” on the news page, rhett miller at largo last monday (it breaks my heart to say that), people who honk in l.a. – all of them, this journal, prada is the new jordache, i need a haircut………..later.