the foxymorons were devastated to hear about the death of elliott smith last month. he’s been a longtime hero of ours and an inspiration. we accidentally saw him open for sebadoh in austin back in 1996. there aren’t many artists whose entire catalog i own. he’s the reason i’m still not embarrassed to play a crummy yamaha acoustic with a dean markley pickup. we’ve chased his sound on many of our recordings. when i was in los angeles last august we went to his favorite bar in hopes he might be there and we even took cheesy tourist photos in front of the figure 8 mural. we were lucky enough to see him perform at a sparsley attended kinks tribute that same weekend. i remember being shocked to see him smile during one song. last night jerry went to a los angeles concert in his honor. here’s the story from mtv.

sorry about the unreliability of the blogger comments window. you can blame dave for that one. i’ve met some interesting new cerritos friends. have you guys heard of crip-walking or c-walking? it’s the proprietary ‘dance’ of the esteemed la-based organization called the crips. i believe their team colors are blue. anyhow, a friend has made an ‘underground’ “how-to” c-walk dvd. and i’ll be ding-danged, it’s selling like hot cakes. you really have to admire the ingenuity of the american entrepreneur. in other news, now that i’ve discovered the mother hips’ album, later days, i’m all about california soul. now i’ve gotta find that out-of-print gem. i’m making a trip to amoeba records this week. thanks sloth! iris out…………………..jj

so……….the foxymorons’ talented half, david, made a trip out to el lay this weekend for some california soul. i knew we’d have a great time when double down ignored the awful traffic and exclaimed “wow” or “awesome!” every time he saw a tall building or palm tree. there’s really too much to tell so i’ll stick to the highlights. we spent our first el lay morning shopping for records at amoeba. dd bought three (yes, three!) mother hips albums and i left empty-handed and bitter. afterwards, we drove down hollywood boulevard to roscoe’s fried chicken and waffles. i’m sure it sounds like the cliched band thing to do – but i’ll tell you what – when you see those waffles come out underneath a mound of butter and a succulent breast of chicken, you’ll never want to eat at fred 62 again. (by the way, let me take this opportunity to say that no place beats metro diner in dallas, texas.) after lunch, we put on our striped beatle wet suits and went swimming in the ocean. it was the perfect golden california summer afternoon. afterward, we walked off the beach, two wet stringbeans, and cruised the 3rd street promenade. mop-top david looked like maureen tucker in sunglasses the whole time. i’ve got pictures to prove it. after a couple of coke classics and good people-watching, we cruised down pico to mccabe’s guitar shop and purloined some gtr picks and strings. (it was a bootleg acoustic evan dando show at mccabe’s that turned us on to sweet guitar pop back in the day.) anyhow, that night we had supper at largo, entertained by laura kightlinger and jon brion. jon killed us with a gorgeous rendition of the beach boys’ classic ‘good vibrations’ assisted by audience bgv’s. the rest of the weekend consisted of countless viewings of ‘bottle rocket’, dinner at el cholo, thrift store shopping on melrose, and a kinks tribute at the derby (featuring elliott smith!). oh yeah, and thanks to our good friend duke (who joined us for laughs, eats, and music the whole weekend), i got my hands on the new pernice brothers’ album entitled ‘yours, mine and ours’. i just can’t tell you how much i love it. if their newfound fascination with wilco is any indication, i’m sure gerard cosloy, the village voice, and all the rest of the new york front office will be raving about joe pernice in about five years. every once in a long while, the tastemakers actually get it right…………………..jj

i love the idea of jj living in california. i hope he ends up in the movies or getting one of our songs played on the wb. i can hear baby blue or august moon playing during an episode of the gilmore girls.

i’m looking forward to my trip out there in a couple weeks. he’s gonna show me the town and all the happening joints. i know a trip to largo to see jon brion is on the schedule. i also plan to attempt surfing for the first time in my life. wish me luck. i hope this summer isn’t a bummer for everyone.

i’m really sorry for not posting sooner. so much to talk about – and i have to do it before my tea gets cold. ok, let’s get cracking….so i graduated from b-school in austin (really a sad moment – happy, but definitely bittersweet. i will miss the mexican food, willie nelson concerts, wine tastings, boat soirees, and ‘the bachelorette’ parties). afterwards, i rented a u-haul, drove my stuff back to sunnyvale and spent a day of quality time with the family. i had dinner at the infamous 1st chinese barbecue with foxy percussionist/singer jackson chang and enjoyed beers with my friend hamilton at the barley house. gosh i’ll miss that place. sorry for the sentimentality. alright, wipe away the tears – we’re back to business: the drive to california was beautifully lonely – willie nelson’s ‘red-headed stranger’ and johnny cash’s ‘live at san quentin’ kept me good company. if you don’t get misty hearing johnny and june carter cash sing ‘darling companion’, well you’re a heartless fool and no friend of mine. gosh, that dame can sing. i spent the first night in lourdsburg, nm and got to l.a. the next afternoon. i’m keeping it real here in inglewood. my friends angie and jeremy are keeping me company while rocking the cable box and rollerblading like bandits full of california soul. so far i’ve seen rhett miller at largo, mike stinson at the silverlake lounge, the tyde at spaceland (featuring a handful of ex-beachwood sparkers), and the new pornographers at the knitting factory. rhett is as charming and phony as ever and i’m glad to see that his posture is still picture perfect. mike stinson can rock a country mic. and neko case not only has a great voice but would probably be good at stand-up. that’s about it. oh yeah, i’m eyeing a martin om-35 at mccabe’s. so as the roommates like to say, “these are the salad days!” truly. ok, take care of yourself. iris out.

yikes, i booked a solo concert in texas next month. wish me luck. jerry’s headed to nashville this weekend. we’re making plans NOT to work on the album though. just hanging out and chilling like the old days.

congratulations are in order. jerry graduated from the university of texas business school today. i think that means people have to call him “master” now. way to go holmes! welcome back to the real world. college life is over… again. now, it’s time to get some serious rocking done.

i’m sorry it’s been a while. where to start? the trip through southeast asia was pretty great. motorbikes in laos, karaoke in singapore (bowie’s “changes” – but i sang it to the wrong song), snorkeling off phi phi island. i can’t complain. you should come by sometime to see the pictures. anyhow, david sent me a rough mix of the new foxymorons album, and i have to say, it’s sounding good. i hope someone’s excited about it. what else? i finally saw “the ring” and i have to say, it wasn’t very good. although, naomi watts is a beauty. and “igby goes down” was a fun afternoon movie, but not much more. but “secretary” was hilarious and even touching. james spader was perfect. anyone seen any good movies? oh yeah, the white stripes are on conan o’brien this whole week. whose idea was that?

jerry’s overseas again. i’m not really sure where this time though. one email came from singapore. another from malaysia. i wish i could say he was on a rock-n-roll tour over there but i think he’s really just laying on the beach and meeting girls. sounds good to me. be safe bro! don’t drink the water and don’t forget to eat an applejack a day.

well, i just had another birthday last thursday, january 30th. i suppose they call that your golden birthday. anyhow, it really was a great day. mom called in the morning, girls sang at school, and there was a fine dinner party (with cake!) that night. thanks cynthia and angie. all the b-school peeps were so darn nice. really. you couldn’t ask for much more. i’m a little older, but still skinny and i have all my hair. also, i haven’t started watching “everyone loves raymond” instead of “seinfeld” or bought any sting records. so i think i’m doing ok. it’s like letterman says: “it’s what we want! we all want to get older.” i’m all for it. but it’s weird how it happens. one day you’re 7 and the next day you’re….older. it’s like watching a 19-year-old george harrison getting off the plane in nyc one moment – and the next you hear he’s passed away. how did a beatle get so old? alright, enough thoughts about getting older. has anyone seen any good rock shows lately? or read any good books? not me. i saw spoon & centro-matic the other night. and man alive, that was really a good show. later…………