I’m gonna get me some mescaline!
I'm your Spirit Guide, Homer.
More on that in a moment.
I’m a little late with this update. We played a couple of weeks ago, then my modem died and I had no internet access at home for a week and a half. I’m happy to report that I was able to survive and even feed and bathe myself occasionally during the Long Modemless Exile, and I’m all better now. My beloved internets are back in the homestead.
I’m a little cloudy on the details from the January 20th shindig. We played Patio Song, Dead Man, Chilly Water, and….I’ll think of it in a minute. The bar was truly packed and we had a nice turnout of Drawerids there to watch. Thanks to Max, Dave, John, Stephen, Michelle, and everybody else who came out. (Update: per a text from Billy, we also played Start Over Tomorrow.)
I got me a new black guitar.
It was kind of an odd night. There were people everywhere and John had musicians lined up like 747’s coming into LaGuardia; we had very little time to stand up there and verbally abuse the crowd. Still, stage time is stage time.
Thanks as always to John, Rebecca, and Chris, the best in the business.
On to more timely things:
We’d planned on playing again last night, but Hayes Carll was in town, and, well, you gotta go see Hayes Carll. He was at the Walnut Room, a damn fine venue here in Denver. Initially, we were bummed that he didn’t have his band with him, but he was great anyway. The dude can write some lyrics and tells a good story…
…which in all honesty is wonderful stuff unless you’re in the mood to get loud. Had we known that his band wasn’t with him, we probably would have ended up playing at Lincoln’s (even though we did have a damned good time with a lot of nice folks.)
One folk in particular actually recognized Billy and I from playing at Lincoln’s.
“Yeah, I’ve seen you guys play, right on!” was the extent of the conversation initially.
Fast forward to the end of the show. I ran into the same fine gentleman again and, while waiting on a drink and attempting to make conversation, said, “so, do you go up to Lincoln’s a lot?”
“Huh?”
“Do you go up to Lincoln’s very often?” I repeated.
“Huh?”
“You said earlier you’d seen Atomic Drawers at Lincoln’s.”
“I’m in an awake kinda dream world kinda. I had a little mescaline earlier.”
“Ahhh. Right on,” I nodded. “Have a good ‘un.”
So, there you have it. Fan recognizes us, fan forgets us, fan turns out to be on mescaline.
Such is the sometimes jovial, sometimes volatile, always unpredictable nature of the relationship between Atomic Drawers and our devoted legions.
We are practicing a ton. It’s like there’s a little Eastern Bloc gymnastics instructor hovering over the Creativity Cellar pushing us to work harder and harder, whether we cry like little children about it or not. In any case, we’re rounding into shape and will be playing again very soon.
Check ya later, check ya later.
JT
The End is Nigh!
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.
–TS Eliot, “The Hollow Men”
Nonsense. Not in the Drawers of the Atomic, anyway.
In 2012, large stone Mayan calendars are apparently going to fall from the sky and disrupt solar flares from the moon’s gravitation tidal pool causing the earth to switch its axis and in turn make the Yellowstone Caldera explode and spew ash all over the place, rendering all things and all people utterly useless.
Because of this End of Days of which the wise men speak, we might as well all participate in the splendor that is Wednesday Night Live Music at Lincoln’s Roadhouse.
Atomic Drawers begins their Monumental 2010 World Tour in Support of Nothing tonight. Come getcha some.
While Denver's Christmas Eve Eve snow storm last night was much larger and more irritating than originally anticipated, Atomic Drawers and friends were not about to deny our legions of loyal followers the Christmas show they deserved.
The evening was bitter cold; the landscape was covered in ice and snow. Vanessa with her apsirations of dentistry and I with my shiny red nose had the Cristal poppin’ on our stretch iceberg as we floated out of our neighborhood and into the wintry night, eventually landing at Lincoln’s Roadhouse, singing a happy misfit song all the while.
With all of the regulars frightened off by holiday obligations and blizzard-like conditions, Lincoln's was realm to stop-motion characters of all shapes, sizes, and maladies last night.
We entered Lincoln’s through the howling wind and found a warm fire and a happy crew of Christmas Eve Eve revellers. Our set started about an hour later than usual, so everybody had a chance to really, really warm themselves sufficiently before we started. With the weather as bad as it was (and having to work at 6AM,) I decided to lay off the sauce for the most part; thankfully, Billy had my slack. I was sweating profusely when we took the stage. Sobriety and music make strange and ofttimes unsuccessful bedfellows…
With Mad Mike sitting in on drums, we started out with our Holiday Classic, Christmas. I thought we did a good job on it; Vanessa later remarked that some members of the audience were actually a tad offended by a song about incest; I must object. We’re tackling major social issues here. Open your minds, people.
Billy belts out "Christmas" while I admire his Hell's Belles t-shirt and Mike keeps the beat.
Next was a sloppy but energetic rendition of Louisiana Highway One. I think maybe Billy and I were just going through the motions on this one because we were both very excited to debut our next song.
All entertainers know that in this era of total media saturation, it’s important that the musical artist present the entire package to the audience in a visual, attitudinal (just made that word up), and of course sonic combination. To that end, Atomic Drawers has decided that we must play the part of financially irresponsible, decadent, debaucherous celebrities if we’re ever going to actually attain such an image. So with that in mind, we made a conscious decision to add Remix/Ignition by R.Kelly into our repetoire.
Nervous at first after only practicing it twice, we shrugged our shoulders and jumped right into the song with Mike providing the ”dope beat” as the kids of ten to fifteen years ago say. The good peeps in the audience who recognized the song seemed to get it initially, then the rest of the bar picked up on it and dug it. We didn’t have gyrating, scantily-clad hangers-on kickin’ it in front of the stage like in the music video, but it was fun anyway. We’ll work on it.
The best part? We finished the song and I turned back and looked at Mike, who said,
“I don’t know where you two come up with this shit.”
Next was Robert Earl Keen’s Merry Christmas from the Family, followed by an experimental new number called Rock and Roll Ending during which I think I broke my acoustic pickup.
We finished things up with T-Shirt (including hy-freaking-sterical new lyrics by Billy) and the best Pussywhipped ever thanks to Mike’s chops.
'Nessa, Jenny, Michelle, and Kelly smile for a photo as Jenny prepares to flip 'Nessa over her shoulder.
Thank You Thank You Thank You to Vanessa, Jenny, Keith, Stephen, Michelle, Kelly, and everybody else who came out on an absolutely treacherous night to spend their valuable time with us; we appreciate it more than you can imagine.
Mad Mike the Drummer–just off an operation, he nutted up and provided a much-needed beat. Thank you Mike!
Also thanks to Chris for pouring and John from Acoustic Music Revival for hosting, and Lincoln’s Roadhouse for keeping the cajun food hot, the beers cold, and the fire warm.
Merry Christmas, everybody. See y’all next year.
We just thuggin' it out....
Pull Clarence out of the river and come to raucous Downtown Pottersville for the big Atomic Drawers Rock Exhibition on Christmas Eve Eve.
You work, you work some more, you never save money, yet you build wonderful little houses for all of the good residents of Bedford Falls. Your building & loan is constantly in the red and always in danger of takeover by that total asshole Mr. Potter.
Then you have an especially bad day, get drunk in a bar, wreck your dope hoopty vintage model T, and make an off-the-cuff remark about wishing you’d never been born. The next thing you know, you’re wet, deranged, and stuck hanging out with a gleeful but confused old guy who thinks he’s an angel. You head into town to grab another drink and get your head straight, but find that Atomic Drawers is playing at Lincoln’s Roadhouse. It’s a Wonderful Life, indeed.
"Say! Can any of you folks tell me where Lincoln's Roadhouse is? I've been roofied and nothing makes a darn lick of sense!
On that subject, Atomic Drawers has been feverishly working on our best A Very Special Atomic Drawers Christmas Gala ever. The setlist has been lovingly chosen, the songs have been practiced and polished and practiced again (once, to be exact,) and we’re downright positive that this Atomic Drawers and Friends Present a Country Family Holiday Salute to Holiday Country Music of the Holiday Christmas Hannukah Kwaanza Holidays will wow audiences all the way from Buchtel Street to S. Pearl Street, and all points in between.
We’re even exhuming Bing Crosby to sing back-up on Good King Wenceslas.
So, come to Lincoln’s on Wednesday night (Christmas Eve Eve) and witness a musical performance that could very well have the power to either move you greatly or offend you completely, depending upon your particular state of mind. We should be starting up around 9:00.
Maybe you should think of this performance as though it’s one of your kids’ (if applicable) School Holiday Pageant Singing things, i.e., we will NEVER, EVER forgive you if you bail on us.
And, if we don’t see you Wednesday, you’ll wake up to nothing coal and switches under your tree on Friday.
Merr Chrihmah.
Some say that a gigantic, pyrotechnic, multi-instrumental stage show takes away from the pure musical experience. Obviously, Atomic Drawers disagrees.
I somehow completely spaced writing an update in the wake of our massive musical extravaganza last Wednesday at Lincoln’s, and I apologize wholeheartedly for the omission.
Thank goodness our broad and devout legion of fan(s) called me on it, otherwise I might never have remembered. The demands of this band have never been greater, and we at Atomic Drawers truly appreciate the help.
It was cold, it was snowing like all hell, and the roads were treacherous; however, the fire was warm in Lincoln’s and the good people were out in full force (all seventeen to twenty-three of them.)
Billy and I went on stage a little earlier than usual and decided just beforehand that, for no reason other than it was cold outside and there was a, uh, sparse crowd, we would play as loud and fast as humanly possible. We then ran through an interesting if slightly disjointed set of songs. We started out with He’s a Dick by GoldenSmog, a fun little tune we haven’t played in a couple of years. Then it was on to Suedehead by Morrisey. Nothing warms up a gruff crowd at the roadhouse like a song that a dude probably (okay, definitely) wrote about another dude. We can’t help it if it’s fun as hell to play; furthermore, we play it better, faster, and louder than the original. Next was…hmmm…It has been a few days…
Oh, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. Loud, fast, and fun. We followed up with…can’t remember…
Oh, Start Over Tomorrow, and Atomic Drawers original about a hangover. We ended our short set with Pecan Pie, again from GoldenSmog. (Something about cold and snow brings out the gratuitous and possibly unneccessary Jeff Tweedy worship in Atomic Drawers.)
The crowd was small, the beer was cold, the fire was warm, the Drawers were Atomic, and we passed a good time. And I was in bed by 10:30.
Thanks to Keith, Michelle, John, Becca, Chris, and all of the other fine folks who made the trek to Lincoln’s on a cold and dreary night.
Atomic Drawers will be back sometime next month, probably for our traditional Thanksgiving Holiday Show. In the meantime, there’s an ever-growing stack of world-killing originals to perfect.
See y’all soon.
Is there anything more lovely than Downtown Denver in Autumn? A full pallete of blazing color dazzles the eye.
Nobody ever wants to go out to Lincoln’s Roadhouse for an Atomic Drawers Spectacle when the weather is sunny and lovely.
As a resident, I get that. This is Denver, where any sunny day wasted makes people point at themselves in their mirrors and cry before hiding in bathrooms and gagging up vomet for missing an outdoor workout or a dog walk or a trail hike or an extreme mountain biking experience or a chance to save an injured sapling.
The truly bizarre part? This place gets 300 days of sunshine per year. You really can afford to miss one or two.
But see, now, today, the weather absolutely sucks. It’s wetter than a bull pissing on a flat rock outside, 35 degrees, wind, rain, snow; basically, we’ve entered the magical land of Shreveport in February (okay, Shreveport in February every three years or so.)
I know what you’re thinking, and you’re right: Atomic Drawers fan(s) are known for their extravagant and meticulously-created hairstyles. I’ve often pondered the sheer volume of man-hours spent on the pursuit of good rock fan hair. I myself dedicate 2.5 hours per day to this crucial art and believe you me, on this particular day I’ve been wrestling with the threat of rainy-day humidified hair; however, it’s not going to keep me home tonight and it should not keep you home tonight either.
Grab one of those plastic bonnet thingies that old ladies used to wear and wrap it around your ‘do, put on your waterproof pancho, and come out to Lincoln’s tonight. Eat a Meatloaf Cheeseburger (yeah, that’s right, Lincoln’s has incredible Meatloaf Cheeseburgers,) have several drinks, and enjoy some live music with Atomic Drawers and other of their ilk.
Maybe I need to stop pushing the food. It never works. Perhaps we need a song about the food. Or a jingle about Lincoln’s on the website. I am now in digression and have taken my italicized inner monologue as far as it needs to go.
If 4000 people or more show up, we’re playing our Atomic Tribute to the Music of Marvin Hamlisch. Any less, then we do a regular set filled with the lively and profane vitriol that you, our dear fan(s), have come to expect.
We’ll be going on at around 9:00 PM and we will be taking attendance.
Stand back, Red Rocks. This is the Best. Venue. Ever.
ROCK:
Let us cut to the chase. Atomic Drawers, on just a few hours’ notice, played a scorching set of rock last night at Lincoln’s Roadhouse. We started off with This Time of Year, mainly because it’s a classic for LSU fans such as ourselves, and because stupid Billy is stupid flying to stupid Baton Rouge tomorrow for the stupid LSU-Florida game; furthermore, we felt like after hearing Better than Ezra play so well last weekend, we needed to hack up one of their songs in order to bring ourselves back to the reality that is Atomic Drawers on a Wednesday Night.
Next was Patio Song, followed by Rough Night (we haven’t played that in a while, so singing “shit” in the chorus received a quite favorable response from the crowd), then Billy’s untitled new song which I thought was called Soul Distillery but isn’t, Straight to Hell, and Pussywhipped. (I think we must be back to playing Pussywhipped every single time we get on stage until Dash Rip Rock comes to Denver and makes us stop by playing it themselves, far better.)
We played really well for no apparent reason; when we started, I could count the patrons of the roadhouse on both hands and one foot. Somehow by the time we finished up, there was a small but rowdy crowd in there. Fun as hell.
STUPIDITY:
So apparently Louisiana has the worst “brain health” in the nation. Big deal–it’s widely known that people with unhealthy brains have far more fun than healthy-brained smart people. One friend, a girl originally from North Carolina, sent me an email yesterday that said,
“Good thing you got out of Louisianna.”
If poor spelling is the tradeoff for a healthy brain, then count me out.
GOOD EXCUSES:
It’s been a long time since we’ve visited some of the colorful and creative reasons for not attending an Atomic Drawers show. And while we did have three die-hards in attendance last night, as well as a good crowd of musicians, drinkers, a softball team, several bikers, and a really drunk salesman of some sort, there were a few no-shows. It was the last really pretty evening for awhile (as I write this, the rain looks like it is turning to snow) but Lincoln’s, overall, was relatively quiet. After taking a short poll, here’s what we have:
1. “I thought about coming to see you play, but we went to the circus instead.”
“Cirque de Soleil?”
“No, Ringling Brothers.”
2. “I had to watch Along Came a Spider, the one movie with Morgan Freeman about psychotic killers that does not co-star Ashley Judd.” (This I cannot condone.)
3. “I was carbo-loading for a big bike race this weekend. I’ve been training for months.” (No entiendo.)
3a. “I ran ten miles home from work after running five miles at lunch because I’m running in a marathon soon.” (You couldn’t run a few more miles up to Lincoln’s?)
4.”I have the Swine Flu.”
5. “I have a four week-old baby.”
Excuses, excuses.
These are the REAL Atomic Drawers fans:
There might be a liner note credit in the works for Greg and Amy.
The Legendary Keith with Billy V.
MAJOR THANKS to Keith and Amy & Greg for coming out to see us, and everybody at Lincoln’s who watched, listened, and sang along.
Also thanks to John for his usual perfect sound and guidance, Rebecca for serving ‘em up, and Chris for pouring.
We’ll see another three to five of you diehard Atomic Drawersians very soon.
Above: Artist's rendition of the type of table upon which hospitality items are generally placed in backstage areas.
I think it makes more sense if I start with the end of the story.
Billy called me at around 10:30 this past Saturday morning and said,
“Dude, we have GOT to figure out a way to sell a million records.”
What follows is a cloudy recollection.
********
Atomic Drawers went Out On The Town last Friday; hitting a Happy Hour at the venerable downtown stinkhole Shelby’s before heading to Atomic Drawers well-wisher Cari’s birthday party in Five Points. Unfortunately for everyone in attendance, they had free champagne; when my nose gets tickly and numb from the bubbles, I tend to react in high style. (Insert necessary apologies to any of Cari’s guests who were not entertained by our ribald conversational talents.)
Next we caught a cab down to the Bluebird Theater for the Better than Ezra show. Ezra has been around since our college days, getting their start at the legendary Murphy’s Lounge in Baton Rouge, and Billy and I have known Tom (bass) since high school. Tom was gracious enough to hook us up with passes (the show had long been sold out, but in true Atomic Drawers fashion, we had totally spaced the date.)
The show was outstanding; those guys have been playing together for twenty-odd years and were tighter than hell. No gimmicks, no bullshit, just straight ahead power pop rock n roll.
After the show, we wanted to say hello to Tom. We walked over to the backstage entrance and asked the nice gentleman if we could step to the back. He allowed us based on some neeto stickers that came with our tickets.
They had good beer and attractive people; we introduced ourselves as Atomic Drawers and were met with both confused looks and admiration. (You mean YOU don’t KNOW about ATOMIC DRAWERS?) The only complaint I had was the lack of Miller Lite. Again the beer, the good beer, was entirely too upscale for the likes of us.
We left the Bluebird and headed down to the Rock Bar for a few more drinks; it was loud and crowded and fun. Apparently.
All I know is, our invitation to retire to the Atomic Drawers Creativity Cellar must have been rebuked because the next thing I knew, I was in Billy’s living room with Nirvana-Nevermind turned up to 11.
Major thanks to Tom, Kevin, Michael, and the whole Ezra crew who made it a very entertaining evening.
Now…Billy and I need to figure out how to sell 1 million records.
We’ll get started on that new goal (damn…I need to add that to the list of goals) this evening at Lincoln’s Roadhouse. We’ll be going on around 9 PM; come out and see us.
The weather is going to turn crappy tomorrow. This is your LAST CHANCE FOR PATIO DRINKING UNTIL MARCH. DON’T WASTE IT. COME SEE THE DRAWERS ROCK YOU OUT ON, uhm, NO DAYS OF PRACTICE.
Above: A physically and emotionally spent crowd exits Lincoln's Roadhouse after Wednesday's Atomic Drawers performance.
Several of Jared's and Pilar's wedding guests arrive in town from Minnesota, ready for an evening of music, revelry, and pillage.
The key to being in a successful band is portraying a positive image at all times and making new friends whenever possible.
The times, they are a-busy. Atomic Drawers has recently been keeping up a feverish pace on all things not having to do with Atomic Drawers; however, we have found time to do a little bit of practicing and a whole lot of writing. The new songs are stacking up faster than Billy and I can actually figure out how they’re going to sound.
And, get this: some of them contain neither profanity or nor alcohol references. It remains to be seen whether our fan(s) respond(s) to this strange, new direction for the band, but we must grow as artists, always exploring new planes of creativity within the plying our craft.
With expensive studio time on the horizon, coupled with the fact that we don’t actually get paid anything (except for your extremely valued applause and the occasional and much, much appreciated free drink,) we’ve decided that the best way to fund the new Atomic Drawers Studio Album (tentatively entitled, “Old Glory–A Tribute to America,” or “Kill Some of ‘Em,” or “Soul Kitchenette,” or “Pantless,” or “Coniption Fit,” or maybe “T-Shirt and Fillers”) is through a Celebrity Auction of valuable Atomic Drawers memorabilia.
The following is just a tiny sampling of the various Heirloom-Quality Atomic Drawers Keepsakes that you and your family will value for years to come:
Here’s the pen that Billy used to scribe the lyric to “T-Shirt”:
*The item in the photo above could simply be an artistic representation of the actual item up for auction.
Next up, the half-full (as of this writing) pack of cigarettes, some of which were smoked during an Atomic Drawers rehearsal:
This is in no way an Atomic Drawers endorsement of cigarette smoking. The last thing we need is those obnoxious, healthy-looking "The Truth" kids harrassing us.
Don't I take good pictures? It almost looks like a random image from the internets. That's what I was going for, though.
Or, after your Wednesday night date at which the lady will have the Linquini with Clam Sauce and a Coke with no ice, you should head down to Lincoln’s Roadhouse for Atomic Drawers.
Why? Because you have The Attitude.
