This was an amazing month. The shows with Jason Webley were legendary. But first…

This blog starts in Clarksdale, MS at the Juke Joint Festival. This year was a great year at the Juke Joint, and we had a great time. The fest is like a family reunion in a way.

Here I am hanging out with Clarksdale legend… Mr. Tater. His music is as raw as it gets folks. We are hanging out in front of Cat Head the coolest place in the universe. If I had a store – it would be Cat Head.

This pic is really for those who know Mr. Tater. For some reason he had perfectly flattened this 40 ounce beer can and placed it in his pocket. I don’t know why.

This is Stan Street has is a painter who plays harmonica too. He set up a studio and gallery in Clarksdale, and his place is one of those great places that makes the world a better place.

On the way out west we played some great shows, but on the way to Aspen we stopped back by Glenwood Canyon. Where Grizzly Creek meets the Colorado River.

I decided to wet a line.

But catching fish there was not to be. A swarm of flies came in. This is what the whole river looked like. A bunch of fisherman showed up and left. I stayed. It didn’t matter if I caught anything anyway. It is a beautiful place.

Aspen was a great show. During the second song this young lady got to dancing so hard she split her head open. I hope she is ok. They took her away in an ambulance.

On the way to Phoenix we saw some great places in Southern Utah.

This is kinda a tourist destination, but it is worth a stop.

There are all kinds of folk art sculptures around.

Of course the main attraction is a whole house built into the mountain.

This sign was on a stuffed goat, and made me laugh out loud.

This bull is entirely just found scrap metal.

More great americana.

The Hole in the Rock even has a petting zoo.

Before we made it to Phoenix, we stopped off to see the Grand Canyon. This picture is almost an insult to it. Nothing could do it justice. When we walked over a hill to it… the sight of it about knocked me down.

I was really in awe of it. If you want a real holy pilgrimage forget churches or other religious places. If you want to be close to God, then go there. I never felt so small. One sad note… they said that all of the haze that has settled in the canyon used to not be there. It is all pollution from LA and Phoenix.

Here is an interesting picture. Maybe someone out there can explain. This picture was taken by me out the side of the window as we pulled away. We were stopped first by border patrol at this check point in the middle of a desert in California. The led us over through some cones to where that white truck is parked. Some armed US military officers forced us all out of the van, and then the arm that is coming off of that unmarked truck was ran around the van and then back and forth across the van. I said, “What is going on.” One of the camo’d officers said, I cannot tell you.” Jayme said, “Is that an X-Ray machine?” His respomse was, “I cannot tell you what the machine is or what we are looking for.” Then they sent us on out into the desert.

We met up with our old friend Chris Francis. Check out earlier blogs to learn more about this legend. Here he is holding his girlfriends dog.

In LA we played at the amazing Safari Sam’s. That show kicked off the tour with Jason Webley, and it was awesome… However we have no pictures from the show. (If you do send ‘em in!) What we do have is a picture of this meat bearing our name. We bought it across the parking lot from Sam’s at a dollar store. Somewhere we have relatives making meat.

Here are the ingredients. YUMMY!

One of the highlights of the tour with Jason was Gilman St. Project in Berkely, CA. This is a picture of the place when we were loading in.

This is what it looked like when Jason was performing. (If anyone has any pics from these shows please send em in!)

Here we all are together on stage.

Jason decided to get a Pinata for Cinco de Mayo for the Gilman show. We filled it with Ramen, Bisquick, Toilet Paper, Artichokes, and all kinds of wierd stuff.

Here is a still photo of the bisquick getting beat out of it.

This sign is painted behind the stage at Gilman. It also made me laugh.

Here are some zines they were selling inside of Gilman. It is an Anarchist collective that is all ages and all volunteer run. Not many places like that for kids to go see live music. I wish I had had a place like that. I had to make a fake ID when I was in High School so I could go see bands.

The record that we made with Jason is really fun, and this picture shows all of the volunteers at UC Davis who helped us assemble them. This project was so DIY we had to hand insert the records, CD’s, inserts, and dictionaries. Special thanks to this awesome team of volunteers that made this possible. Especially Rob Roy who is the guy in the red shirt.

This is us mailing out all of the pre-orders in Arcata, CA. We had to hand stamp them. But it was awesome, because 1/3rd of the records were sold pre-sale before the thing was released.

On the way to Oregon we passed through the Redwood forest. These trees are amazing. It looks like a fairy tale land. I felt like a gnome.

It makes you almost believe that Paul Bunyon could exist. The trees are spectacular.

Jayme really loved the forest. He especially liked this moss.

This is the coast through the Redwood forest. Pretty neat.

Jason climbed down on this rock, and it looked like he belonged there. Like he was part of the rocks.

Here you can see the forest in the mist. The little red car in front of us is Jason’s Tomato car.

This is my favorite pic in the blog. I know it is kinda blurry, but Breezy had to zoom way in. I snuck up on these Elk, and hung out with them. I know you probably shouldn’t do that, but I did and it was awesome. At one point they kicked at the ground at me and snorted at me. I thought the big one was going to charge, but then they seemed to get used to me. I posed for this pic and then slowly walked away.

Jayme wanted nothing to do with sneaking up on the Elk. He figured me for dead. He stayed on the other side of the road.

This is the Smith River. Pretty unbelievable.

The water is beautiful.

It looks like pool water.

The rocks got real narrow here, and it was so fast and loud. I wanted to drink the water.

This is Jason Webley’s dad. We stayed with him in Seattle for a night. He makes these abstract sculptures out of rocks.

I thought they were pretty cool.

This is where Jason Webley lives. In the little house boat behind the Saint Joan. We didn’t stay here over night, but we hung out here before we parted ways.

Jayme is standing in front of Jason’s house boat.

This is inside the Iowa 80 truck stop. The largest truck stop in the world.

The floor below the truck spun around.

Here is the sign.

This is Breezy riding a giant Jackalope at Wall Drug in Wall, SD.

This is also at Wall Drug.

This is where the blog should end. This guy is hilarious. I kicked Jayme’s cymbal a bunch during the show in Seattle, and it broke and fell off the stand. This guy bought it from us and sent us these pictures. Check out his page for the rest. They are awesome.

If you don’t have the record and you want it, then you better act fast. Only 1111 will ever be made, and almost 900 have been sold.