July 2, 2008
KNEW SAWNGS AND STUPH.
Written By : wojtek

hello everyone-
its been a while since i actually wrote a blog. not because not much has been going on, i think its because i am forgetting how to type. i dont know what it is but i am over shooting every key on the keyboard. i go to hit the letter "j" and i hit the letter "k". this has been going on for a good 2 months now. what usually takes me 3 minutes to type now takes about 4, add up the minutes and thats alot of backspacing and retyping. i dont type with your standard "home position." i use what i call the t-rex method, which is quite simple. i use only the thumb, index and middle fingers on both hands. a total of 4 fingers and 2 thumbs. the ring fingers and pinkey are usually just curled under, kinda like axl rose when he plays piano....not sure if any of you care or care to notice next time you are watching a throwback g n' r video, but axl actually uses the t-rex method at the piano. its amazing that he can play as fast as he does (note: listen to november rain.....that entire solo at the end of the song is played with 4 fingers and 2 thumbs).

so we just got back from utica, il where we took part in the colgate country showdown. we played at starved rock national park and let me tell you, the view in the background of where we were playing was just awesome. i dont know if the people there were watching us or the view behind us!! it was like a giant canyon filled with trees and bald eagles ( i actually didnt see any of the eagles, but i think they are in some other part of the country this time of year). well, a few people must have been watching us because we were chosen to move on to the finals next month! HOORAY! this is a real neat competition and the winner of the finals will go to the state finals, then the regional finals and then the nationals finals. lots of finals and hopefully we can see a few of them. we will keep you posted via the blog. we did 2 songs for the competition today, drag and outside.

speaking of songs, we have been working on new ones lately. we have started demoing out 6 new songs and 1 cover. the new songs are currently under working titles of:

1. g-ramps / where i stay
2. the one that got away
3. love dont live here no more (i know that there is a song out there by the same name but this song was written a while ago. before the other version was ever on the radio.)
4. johnny strong went and joined the marines
5. yes please (we have been playing this one out for a LONG time)
6. corner of yesterday

the cover that we are working on recording is help! by the wonderful beatles.

i will start to conclude this blog by letting you know what i have been listening to lately/what albums i have bought in the past couple weeks...

jakob dylan - seeing things (2 words. 1. RICK  2. RUBIN)
my morning jacket - evil urges
weezer - red album
sugarland - enjoy the ride (great songwriting.....id love to hear this band with a less slick production style. jennifer nettles has a voice that reminds me of rubber. ....thats compliment).
fleet foxes - self titled (kinda like a new CSNY....)
toby kieth - 35 biggest hits (i know i know....TOBY KIETH!!!?? let me tell you what. track 16 on disc 2 is called "a little too late" and i think it is one of the best songs written in the past 10 years. it is brilliant and yes, i bought 35 of toby kieths greatest hits for 1 song. SO SUE ME!)
teddy thompson - a piece of what you need (son of richard thompson)

how about them cubs!!!! well, we are coming off a tuff series on the south side and we just lost tonight in san fran, but still. LETS GO CUBS!

hope all is well.

wojtek

March 31, 2008
the august is happy
Written By : jacky

hello august friends!
and happy opening day to ya’ll. ..go cubs! (if this rain ever stops!)



so... we just got back to the chi from the upper east coast this afternoon (thanks to our road warriors pete & wojtek, who drove straight through the night from new hampshire)...and while we had a stellar time playing, we are of course glad to be home to kick of baseball season, no?

while we’re waiting for the rain to stop and the cubs opener to begin, i thought i’d stop by to say hey and let you know what a great time we’ve been having as of late. specifically this past week on the road with enter the haggis.
what a great time...what a great band...what a great bunch of guys!

we hopped on the back end of ETH’s march tour last week in buffalo, rochester, & troy in NY, and just finished up at newmarket, NH, and had a seriously awesome time. if you aren’t fans of ETH yet, please check out their stuff. they’re in our "top 8" friends.

the venues we played were seriously awesome... very cool stages, and excellent sound systems/sound guys. we’re talkin’ red curtains at the german house in rochester, and 500 people packing the place at revolution hall in troy, NY, with a light show extraordinaire. enter the haggis really brought in some great crowds, and their fans are just wonderful. it was our pleasure to get to know a good deal of them. very loyal, and totally into supporting touring musicians like ourselves. i mean, at revolution hall, we sold over 80 CDs!! THANK YOU to all of you who supported us on this tour! ya’ll are GREAT.

special shout out to the KREW in buffalo...kenny and "D" for their hospitality, and of course the rest of the brothers/cousins/sons for joining us at our gig in Nietzsche’s....for taking pictures, and buying like 10 t-shirts! =)
and to JUSTIN ROSE who came out to our show there as well, who helped engineer on thistle, sparrow, and the tall, tall grass! great to see you again! =)
also props to our friend gray in troy, NY, (whom i met on the cayamo cruise in february) for helping us "sell out" of CDs and slipping us some gas money since we couldn’t crash at his place!
we have such AMAZING friends/fans... we seriously couldn’t do it without you, so THANK YOU for your support, and for your faith. it really helps when you guys tell us time and again to NOT GIVE UP. we don’t plan on it any time soon, thanks to ya’ll!! =)

so, all and all...we had quite a good time on tour this week.
i will post a new myspace slideshow later today to give ya some visuals....
and even though we stayed at some of the not-so-cleanliest motels around, we DID get to play some awesome shows, meet some great people, and learn a lot from the rad toronto band, ENTER THE HAGGIS. oh! and we saw niagra falls as well, not to mention the atlantic ocean in portsmouth, NH. always a little bonus to being on the road, right?

ok...
so 2,400 miles later
and with 5 minutes til the opening pitch by carlos...

i’m gonna say adios to ya’ll.

thanks for keepin up with us.

oh! and make sure you watch the cubs WEDNESDAY as well, yeah?
i’ll be singing the national anthem again at wrigley. 1:00 pm on CSN chicago.

GO CUBS GO!


love

jacky
and the august

March 28, 2008
back in ny
Written By : wojtek

hello blog readers! we are currently in try, ny with the night off. last night we were in rochester (with enter the haggis) playing at a very beautiful venue. awesome theater set up, big velvet curtains, old wooden stage....nice.

February 6, 2008
SNOW, BOATS, CUBS, TV AND TOM PETTY...
Written By : wojtek

Hello everyone! Its been a while since the last blog, our bad...

So, if anyone is near the Chicago land area, you probably know that we are getting hit hard with some serious snow. It is crazy. I would say we have somewhere to a foot of snow out there. Lucky Jacky knows nothing of this because right now she is somewhere off the coast of Mexico on a cruise with her roommate and an bunch of people watching and listening to some awesome music. I know Lyle Lovett is on the boat because Jacky met him earlier today during emergency boat drills. I'll leave it at that because I'm sure she will tell you all about it in her blog when she gets back. But yeah, for now, its nothing but snow outside. I tried to be a good citizen and I went out and shoveled some of the older neighbors driveways but i quit after 2 short drives. Too much wind, too much snow and not enough dedication (on my part).

About 2 weeks ago I was at the 23rd Annual Cub Convention at the Hilton Towers in Chicago. Man do I love baseball, and this was the preshow to spring training (which should be starting up in about 2 weeks or so!) I had a blast at the convention, meeting some well known players and some not so well knowns. I got the baby bulls autograph (Carlos Zambrano), Derek Lee's autograph and Andre Dawson's as well. Alphonso Soriano gave me a high 5 and said "BAM!!" I love the Cubs and can't wait for the season to start. I also cant wait for the Cubs to trade for Brian Roberts......enough about baseball.

We haven't been playing that many shows as of late, pretty much sticking around the midwest (Chicago, Milwaukee, Indianapolis and Cinci) but once the threat of snow goes away, we will be traveling again. Right now we are working on an east coast swing with our good friends Enter the Haggis. Looks like we have a handful of shows in NY and thereabouts, check our tour section of the website for more info as it comes out....Speaking of our website, sorry about the hold up on the photos sections and the message board. We changed servers a couple weeks ago and have seemed to lost some (or all) of our pictures and message board data. YIKES. We are working on getting it back for that black hole of where ever it may be.

So since we are not traveling much this month, we have been working on new material. We have a good amount of new material and now, after Jacky gets back from the cruise, we will start learning them and hopefully have them ready to be played out the following month. I think there is a total of (drum roll please.........) 8 songs that we have slated to be worked on in the upcoming weeks. HOORRAY!!

Big news on the DVD front. After a little delay on our end and then some more delay on the editors end, we should have the finished product in our hands on MONDAY, Feb. 18. This is the audio and footage from the Martyrs' show that we played (gulp) way back in July or something. We will post clips on You Tube, Myspace and the website.

I picked up the new Nada Surf album yesterday. I love that band. Really. You may remember them from back in '96 with their hit single "Popular." Since that song, they were dropped from their label and picked up by a small indi label (Barzuk) and then totally transformed themselves into a super awesome band who dropped the alternative label for a almost genre defying sound with super awesome production and vibes. Check them out. (seriously, i get no money  for plugging them so hard. They are just a real good band).

What else is new? I am super addicted to HD TV. My favorite thing to watch "the Office." I have seasons 1,2 and 3 on DVD and it is brilliant. I even went so far as to buy a Dwight K. Schrute Bobble Head. Yeah, that's right. Also bought the BBC's Planet Earth box set. It is so amazing. Wow. I have never seen such amazing footage caught on tape (unless you count the photos in National Geographic.)

I have been watching too much TV. Who cares. Almost forgot, if you haven't seen the new Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers DVD "Running Down a Dream" go get it and watch it. If you are a musician, it may change your life.


Hope everyone is well-


Wojtek

November 4, 2007
west virginia, mountain mama...
Written By : jdust

hello from north carolina, ya'll! j*dust here. typing from my comfy queen size bed at the comfort inn just outside of elon college. now that we're outta our bunk beds in the mountains, it feels like that time to blog it up, yes? here goes nothin.

i'll start from the beginning of this little stint...which actually started up in nashville, our "home away from home." as usual, we had nothing but good times in cash vegas. the bluebird cafe is always packed with diligent listeners, which is a slight change of pace from the usual smoky bar scene. which we actually got right back into by acquiring a short set at the legendary tootsie's honkey tonk the following night...which went AWESOME.
from tootsie's we actually traveled on to a small venue called the station inn, where the time jumpers were playing, with vince gill sitting in on guitar. talk about perfection. at least 2 hall-of-famers on stage, simply owning their instruments. so, yeah--if youre ever in cashville on a monday, check them out. please.

from nashville we traveled to STL for the first time. that show ended up being good times on a nice stage... me thinks we might just make it back to cicero's in the near future for some more! we had a small birthday celebration in the crowd, which may or may not have led to thievery of our posters off the walls. the bands we shared the stage with were real great guys... one of them (from a sorta metal band) was even nice enough to recommend a book/dvd for me on how to 'scream' correctly (without losing your voice). i'll let ya know what i think about it when i check it out. =)

we then went home (and worked) for a couple days before making our way to bloomington, IL, home of THE dan hubbard. after our 7 hour (?) commute, we arrived at paulie's to hear dan and scott tear up the stage, as usual. always a pleasure and honor to share the bill with those guys. and to share fans with them! we acquired some awesome new august friends that night. can't wait to see ya'll again..perhaps even on NYE when the hubbards reunuite at daddio's!

from bloomington we headed to bourbonnais to one of the most happenin' coffee joints out there, moon monkey cafe. trevor's shirt said it all...'moon monkey junkie.' the place was packed, and the people there were quite friendly. we played a stripped down acoustic set to switch it up a bit after laura clark rocked the stage, and it ended up going real well, even 'help' and 'bobby mcgee.' we met some rad people there as well, one in particular who tutored me in kickboxing, the gates of heaven (he's been there), and on the specifics of attaching and detaching a fake leg.

from there we had to swing up through arlington heights to hit up the guitar center, and find a free place to stay (thanks, parents!). at ISU, pete's bass rig sorta gave out, so we had to purchase a combo amp at GC before moving on to middlebury, IN. we stayed in middlebury for 2 nights before heading east, and it was indeed some good living. rulli's has THE BEST cheese ravioli ive ever had, hands down. over rosebud even. go ahead and make the trip if you can to check it out. and of course...what better day to go then december 1st? it's wojtek's birthday, and we'll be back in town with the river city band. come join the fun. that invitation also means all ya'll who were kind enough to come out for our electric show last sunday and/or our follow up acoustic set the next day at bella luna.
p.s. thanks to all ya'll who showed up last weekend...friends from the phoenix (in mishawaka) as well as those who were at our show the last time there to see us again, bringing friends!! =) you guys simply make our nights down there. you, and sam and mary. some of the greatest people alive down there.

once we finally left those middleburians alone, we took a stroll out east, stopping halfway in ohio so petey could make sense when he got outta the van yelling 'hello cleveland!" we stopped at the rock & roll hall of fame, which was quite impressive. i MAY have fixed my hair in janis joplin's porsche cabriolet. rock. and. roll.

we eventually made it to west virginia where we played a halloween gig with enter the haggis, who we have some future dates coming up with that you dont wanna miss...they are a GOOD TIME.
we got to play and stay in a small town called thomas (in the middle of the mountains) at a unique little place called the purple fiddle. they also put us up for the night in a room next door, called "fire on the mountain." it had 2 sets of bunks and a single in one small cozy room. interesting vibe. not much hot water, but plenty of free-spirited characters there. sparky. eric. ben, ben, and ben. napolean john. THOMAS MULLIGAN. after our 2nd night playing there we got to experience a night in the life of thomas, virginia at the local brewery, with an open jam going on, mandos and banjos and all. i think there needs to be a separate blog just for WV. (tim just popped his head in the room and when i asked him what to write about WV he said "the slowest state in the union.") that sums it up. i cant wait to go back though. maybe by plane next time though? those windy roads are enough to make 1 of us stop the van to puke. way to go on that drive by the way, pete. road warrior.

our drive from WV to NC took 23,000 years, more or less. route 219 might be the prettiest road ever in the fall (mountians upon mountains, changing trees, etc), but maybe moreso on a harley. not a 1-ton top-heavy vanmobile. we luckily spaced it out in daily, WV for lunch, where it may have taken 1 hour for our breakfast to come to the table. the waiter may or may not have been a felon. "i used to work for the USDA as a ranger but 2 felonies took care of that right quick."

finally we made it the heck out of WV and got through virginia and north carolina to elon college for our radio show on WSOE, 2 hours late. thanks, ryan and eric for making it happen. it was actually a lot of fun. the beat boxing mighta been my favorite part.
we play a show at the university "in the zone" in a few hours which we're very much so look forward to.
and then its time to head back to the midwest. where your ears dont pop, and the roads are flat and straight.
STL on tuesday
mil-town on friday
and THE CHI on saturday!!!

its been fun on the road thus far, but of course we're looking forward to coming home and doing some laundry. working a bit, and maybe learning a few new songs. editing up our live dvd, getting the street team up and running, and making new t-shirts.

thanks for reading this anything-but-concise rambling blog.

yeah
the
august

jd


p.s. check out theaugust.com for photos of the trip.