All future posts will be made at http://dakotafloyd.com/

Expect Nothing -- You Won't Be Disappointed...

"...Life is just a pie that smacks you in the face then you die. One door closes. Another one opens and busts you in the nose. What did I do?"
~This Bike is a Pipebomb

I don't think I'm gonna be using this thing too much anymore. I bought a domain name today and am just gonna update all my crap in multiple small posts as things happen and come to mind. It's way easier. So easy that I can even do it by texting if I want. Or from AIM. Or from my desktop. Handy dandy, eh? I'll still probably post larger, major posts here, but things will be popping up more and more sparingly here. This has already started to go into effect. I'll post up the url once I get all the bugs worked out, although it's pretty easy to figure out if you know me at all.

Just a heads up.

There are two shows tomorrow (or today, however you want to look at it). I'm pretty sure that they're gonna be bummers attendance-wise. Yargh!

Here's some stuff I typed up earlier:

What a wasted day. Basically, all I did was wake up and go to work. Awesome, huh? There are two shows tomorrow. The first one is Grandfather Clock and The New Diet playing acoustic at Meeks Park, and the second is Juffage, The New Diet, and Straight, No Chaser at Mountain High. I hope people decide to come out — I’ve been promoting pretty hard for awhile — but I somehow get the feeling that not many people will. It makes me so sad, this decline in Blairsville’s little music whatever, but what can I do? I offer people rides, free CDs, my undying affection, and most importantly FREE HUGS…What more could they want? Yea, I’m moving in under a month, but I want the bands that are coming through to get a good show. They put faith in me to set up something decent, and I want to make sure I can at least provide that. I haven’t been able to for the last while.

Yargh. I will never understand people as long as I live.


and

Things I need to do tomorrow:

— Remember to grab my camera and a fresh tape for tomorrow’s shows.

— Go to Blairsville Bikes and Boards to get / order a lock, rack, kickstand, and water bottle holder for my bike.

— Grab cash for buying distro stuff.

— Move all my screenprinting crap so people will have a place to stay tomorrow night.

— Watch Dave Dean’s DVD at least 5 more times.

— Wake up.

— BUY TAPE!!!!

— and envelopes.

— Remember whatever I’m forgetting to put on this list that I’m probably not even going to look at once tomorrow.




Anyway, be on the lookout for the link to the new site on Wednesday-ish maybe. That's all, really.

What Have We Done? Are We Making Any Changes Or Just Having Fun?

I love Mountain High Skate Park. I found out some stuff that I didn't know tonight about that place, and it makes me respect Shawn and his wife for running it even more than I already did. Basically, the skate park is nonprofit. Shawn and his wife both work "normal" jobs then come and open up the skate park when they get off. Shawn builds all of the ramps, rails, and other miscellaneous things himself. The only reason the skate park charges for anything is to meet their costs. And they said even when the costs stop being met, they're not closing because kids need something to do, and skateboarding is not a crime. Shawn also told me something tonight that made me think that maybe there's something more to these crazy shows I do than just me trying to get people to like the same music I do...He told me that the skate park probably wouldn't have made it through this past winter if it hadn't been for the shows I did there during that time. That is kind of a sense of accomplishment in community building, which is something I've been striving for over the past while. But anyway, enough babble about that. Shawn gave me a free pair of shoes tonight! They're usually 35 bucks, but he said he had a ton that he just needed to get rid of. They're really awesome. I traded him some music from my distro that I figured he'd like. Next time I'm up there I'm gonna slip some cash somewhere that I know he'll find it.

Basically, this whole blog is gonna be about Mountain High and stuff that's coming up there, so if you're already bored, you might as well turn back now.

Shows coming up at Mountain High:
Tuesday, July 22nd / 5:30PM -- The New Diet, Juffage, Straight No Chaser (acoustic afternoon show at Meeks, 2PM)
Saturday, July 26th / 5PM -- Yoni Gordon and the Goods, Others TBA
Monday, August 4th / 5PM -- Jonesin', Others TBA
Saturday, August 16th / all day! -- Mountain High One Year Party! Bands TBA. This is the Bye FOREVER! Fest substitute.

I'm also leaving my PA at the skate park while I'm at college so they can continue to do shows during the year. Woohoo!

Anyway, yea. If you get a chance, go support your local skate park / general hang out spot for teenagers whenever you can! Chances are, if I'm going, I can give you and two or three other people a ride there and back. Wooo!

Every Time I Think We're Going Forward, We Start Going In Rewind...

Well, after a good show on Thursday, of course the one today was awful. But this was a first. This was the first time I was the only person to show up. Magical, eh? Luckily, Goat Bell was awesome about it, as they face the same type of dilemmas up where they're from. They set up and played a full 11 song set just for me. And tomorrow they're printing up a shirt specifically for me. I mean, I knew it wouldn't be a very big show as it was kinda last minute, at my house, and on a Sunday night, but still. Anyway, they did really well. Way better than I was expecting. And everyone in the band is really cool. They're some of the nicest guys I've ever met. It turns out, they live really close to my mom (~20 minutes away), so I think next time I'm up there I'm gonna hang out with them. Oh, and Jim, the drummer runs Hip Kid Records. He has the best distro around. Sooooo much great stuff.

The next show / shows is / are Tuesday, July 22nd. More details on this soon. I think there may be an acoustic afternoon show and a fullband evening show. But we'll see. Maybe more than people than...me...will show up?

After the thing on the 22nd, Toby Foster and A Drum and An Open Window are playing at Meeks Park on the 29th. Then I leave for Chicago. When I get back, there is a show on the 15th. I'm thinking about doing it at the Civic Center, as that's one of the only real places that fullband shows can legally happen in Blairsville. I could use the skatepark, but I want this show to be in Blairsville. Start here, end here. But that being said, I may do one last skatepark show on Saturday. Maybe. We'll see. No Bye FOREVER! Fest though.

It's All Good, 'Cause I'm No Good...

Wow. Thursday's show was actually...good. For one of the first times this year, I was genuinely happy at a show. Attendance could've been better, but everyone seemed to have a good time, so woohoo! Anyway, here's a quick rundown of everything:

The show opened up with Sharks! With Knives!!!. His stuff was really generic, and he only played three songs, but it was cool. He brought a bag of various percussive instruments and let people play them through his set. Woohoo!

Next up came Allison and AJ Weiss. They absolutely stole the show. They played 11 songs, spanning about 40 minutes, every single one of them was spot on. And one of the best parts is, they're local! Allison goes to UGA and AJ goes to school somewhere in Hall County, I think. So in other words, I'll probably see them again. I also mentioned that if they needed help with any upcoming releases to give me a shout. They at least pretended to be interested, so we'll see what happens with that. Haha.

Third was Ed's least favorite guy ever, Matt Fox. Basically, Matt Fox rocks. Literally. He has a knack for finding cool rocks. Somewhere on the tour he's on, he found a huge piece of quartz as well as a ruby in Hiawassee. Matt is kind of a transient and he had three panhandler friends with him. They smelled kind of bad, but were actually pretty cool. Except one of them who was a total jerk, but anyway, Matt played about eight songs. I liked them, except for the fact that his guitar was out of tune the whole time and they sounded the same. All of them were really sad too, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'd say he was my second favorite of the night.

Last came Danny Rangel, or "Randal" if you will. Normally he plays for a million years and never says song titles, but that all changed Thursday night! He only played, I wanna say, six songs. Vocally, he sounded good, but his playing was sloppy. I think I noticed because I've seen him play so many times. Haha. It was good though, so woohoo!

Every single bit of what I just talked about, save one or two songs, can be seen on YouTube, here: http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=DakotaFloyd&p=r

I also have a couple extra copies of everyone who played's stuff. If you want something, holla'!

The next show is this Sunday night, the 13th, at my house. 6PM. Be there?!

Ok, ok...I know you probably won't be at that one, but this next one will be really, really good: Tuesday, July 22nd / 5PM / Meeks Park / Grandfather Clock, Juffage, The New Diet. Be there, yes?

Alright, I'm done. That's about the least amount of time I've ever taken on a blog. And it's pretty much a happy blog. Weird, huh?

I Too Sang, Spit the Blood of Welling Thoughts...

Saturday's show was ok. Maybe 25 people showed up. Rational Anthem and Troublemake sold a bunch of CDs, but didn't make much money off of them (they sell them for $1 - 3). They wound up making about $70 on the show. I have some extra CDs if anyone wants any. Afterwards we went to Downtown Pizza and wound up getting 5 free pizzas, as they were about to close. Woohoo! After Downtown, some of the band went on a trek for alcohol, got caught in a thunderstorm, and came back an hour and a half later with little to show for their efforts. Oh no. Anyway, Rational Anthem and Troublemake = nice guys. I hope the next show (which is THIS Thursday, the 10th, and will be much, much better, musicwise) goes quite a bit better, though.

So, my wisdom teeth are starting to hurt now. I don't really wanna say anything though, because I know we can't really afford to get them taken out now. Bluh! This sucks!

Wondering about my song-a-day-for-a-week thing? I made it through 6 days, but I was exhausted on day 7 (it was the day of the afore mentioned show) and totally forgot. I suck.

I missed an awesome sale on airline tickets, and I'm mad now. Atlanta - Chicago, $84. I technically did and didn't miss it according to their site; they had a typo. One page said it ended last Tuesday, another said it ended Wednesday. Yargh. Now the cheapest is like...$180. I'm definitely gonna wait to try to catch another sale. Blargh!
Caught a sale when I got home from work. $209 got me a roundtrip. Southwest Folk Fest here I come!

I hate waiting on stuff in the mail. Especially when it takes forever.

Well, work is calling. I don't want to answer, but I'm broke. Adios.

Celebrate Who I Am, Don't Mourn That I'm Gone...

Well, Coach West's funeral was today. It was sad, but it got the job done. It left me with some sense of closure, that everything will be ok. He was a good man, who lived a good life. What more could anyone ask? I only hope that someday I can touch as many hearts as Coach West did in his short time with all of us. Until we meet again, Coach West, you will be greatly missed by everyone you ever came in contact with. Thank you.

So, I've decided for the next week to write a song a day. Why? Well, for one, there's nothing else to do, and two, I don't like anything I write. I'm hoping that by writing something everyday I'll eventually find something I do like. All of the songs will be posted on YouTube if I get around to it. If I wind up not doing this, you can all punch me in the face. Maybe.

So, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be able to make it to Southwest Folk Fest in Chicago this year. It's August 8th and 9th, with The Gadabout Film Festival going on at night (Ed, you still wanna submit that thing?). I'm super pumped!

I think I'm gonna buy a new guitar amp tomorrow. I hate to spend the money, but I really need one. I was messing around with a 50w Peavey Valveking (tube!) the other day, and I really, really liked it. So that's probably what I'll wind up getting.

All of the rest of the stuff for the Matt K CDs came in today. Burning 150 CDs is going to take FOREVER, though! Ahhhh! I got all of the disc face art done though, and they look pretty good. Better than I was expecting. If you want one, just give me a couple bucks or something? I dunno? My official price is $2 - 5 (sliding scale), but if you don't have that much or are cheap like me, I can give it to you for whatever. And if you wanna know what all you'd be getting: hand stamped / decorated 10 track CDr, fullcolor insert, slimline jewel case, sticker, and a hug! You know you want one.

Speaking of selling stuff, I am pretty broke / will be an even more broke college student soon, and I have too much stuff laying around my house. I'm selling my old Drive Electric guitar and my 100w Rogue solidstate amp. Really cheap. Also, I've got all kinds of CDs from bands who have played here. I'll sell them to you for exactly what I paid for them or less (they're all brand new). I just wanna get them out of my way. If you wanna know what all I've got, lemme know!

Eric Ayotte's new CD, "Remnants of Storytown" just came out a couple days ago. I'm really looking forward to getting it. Never listened to Eric Ayotte? He wrote one of my favorite songs of all time, which can be viewed / heard here: http://www.ifyoumakeit.com/video/eric-ayotte/mr-and-mrs-everyone/

Andrew Jackson Jihad also have a new song up on ifyoumakeit. You should recognize the tune. http://www.ifyoumakeit.com/video/andrew-jackson-jihad/sense-sensibility/

Anyway, I'm sure you guys don't care about any of that music stuff so I'm just gonna shut up. If you made it this far, awesome! If you didn't, you didn't miss much.

PS -- Where the heck did June go?