Road Journal
You look for fame...you lose your soul... Friday...First trip ever to Walla Walla, Wa. this week...the beautiful, lazy, winding Walla Walla River escorted us into the Gorge side valley with the aroma of Walla Walla sweets encircling the air...mmmm...thank God above for the Aural Pleasures of life. We passed about 20 robust wineries in the Walla Walla Valley as we made our way downtown to Sapolil Cellars where they had prepared the way with the red carpet welcome by the local news and neighbor hood. Easy load in gave a few minutes to chill and share our stone baked pizza & homerolled tabacco with our local goth buddies out back in the alley...FaeRaven had never seen knee-high Converse boots before...Alice needs to score a pair of those for her collection...but I digress...the show started on time...FaeRaven popped an A string on the first note of the first song (Just West of August) and had to pull off a 3 minute string change while Sagebrush Jamey (aka 'Cactus') gave a rare solo performance of "Little Church"...from the vault. Back in style, rVw launched into a full 2 hour set in front of a packed house before intermission. During their break, Jamey...found the bands fav beverage at the hippie deli next door...old school bottled Coca Cola...they guzzled three and hit the stage for another hour and a half...the crowd wrung out completely during the 2nd encore. Unanimously the band agrees that the show stopper that night was...."Arcturus." On our way home we talked Rodney, now fast asleep, into letting us swing by the ole Yakima Sport Center to visit our buddies Sidestreet Reny & 'Lil Bell who were playing there on Friday night...screams and hug galore as we pulled up outside the club, just in time to miss load out...whew...sorry guys. We discussed our many adventures since we last happened upon one another and sychronistically, they were now camped out on an old goat farm in Chelan...also finding it difficult to tear themselves away from the paradise. Time to get back on down that old lonely! I think we didn't get back home till 4:20am that night...but standing in the canyon under the moon and listening to the sounds of the Universe...complete with the nighthawk's wings and a coyote choir...was a perfect night cap to the musical adventure that marks the end of the first quarter of our summer tour...so full already....maybe I should stand under the moon a little more often...Grateful. Pictured: Lake Chelan Winery Before hitting the stage at Vin du Lac on Saturday, we took a dip in the cleanest inland waters of the Northwest. Word has it that the residents along Lake Chelan actually draw their drinking water directly from the 50 some odd mile long lake...the sand is white like the Florida beaches, great for curling toes and self foot massaging...true to our Qi Gong lesson last week, we left our woes in the water they crave and shuffled off to our cliffside show baptised in the anti-inflammatory notions of Lake Chelan's crystaline waters. It was difficult to leave Chelan for home at the end of our stay...Grateful. Pictured: Vin du Lac Winery May 9, 2009...First Annual Ellensburg Wine Tasting Festival. May 2nd & 3rd...Where's the turn-off to White Pass again? Saturday was beautifully sunny, we'd never seen such a greener place on Earth, except for maybe the Amazon or the Congo, which, technically, we haven't seen in person. You can really see how the flood tore into the river and surrounding banks and forest this year. In exchange for the green, it somehow seems worth it. We performed our hearts out to the screeching of the neighborhood scrub jays. And the clientle showed gratitude and appreciation in the form of generous album sales. We can't wait to get back to Central-Western Washington...what a pocket of heaven...and a pocketful of music lovers! Thanks for a fruitful time. The funnest part of the Apple Blossom experience wa getting a ride (personal escort) in the golf carts of course...the not so funnest part was the damn PARKING TICKET!!!! we manage to get in every town we play in?!!!! Where's a band supposed to park an 8 Passenger Van and 12' Cargo Trailer in these cramped festival parking areas? Have pity people... January 17, 2009 ....Winterhop Brewfest...best year yet! Ravinwolf had the pleasure of performing at the Daily Record...in the lunch room...at this year's Winterhop Brewfest!!! Crowded with brew-lovers and friends we had the time of our lives performing brand new originals fresh off Winter break...and wading out of the West Ellensburg 100 year flood...our waterlogged feet developed webbing this past week...but unstoppable, we managed to pull off the 5 hour show! The Daily Record staff was kind enough to print a beautiful backdrop using our logo from album 1 "How Are You?"...we are very grateful to them...they totally redeemed themselves ...just kidding! We love you guys! Aftermath...the Lake... Jan 9, 2009... Jamey saving "Nova-Amber" (FaeRaven's Keyboard) Flood survivor...hmmmm... Dec 26th, 2008...Twas the night after Christmas... The staff and managment showed such wonderful hospitality and service that we felt like family. Jar, the proprieter, recorded the performance ...and shared with us sample of select taste treats from his kitchen...slow cooked pork tenderloins stewed in fresh crushed jalapenos ...simmered all day...yummm...and a special pollo dish that he created for the Smothers Bros appearance on a Seattle area television appearance ...Apparently, Jar befriended the Smothers Bros. while cheffing at a late night restaurant in the Seattle area. For many seasons, Tommy Smother would arrive after the show for a post-gig munch out, cocktail and cigar fest closing down the kitchen with Jar and socializing into the wee hours...during one of their annual exteneded visits to Seattle, Tommy had an early morning television appearance scheduled for the following day. He was supposed to come up with something to cook! Luckily he had access to Chef Jar...and they created a creamy pollo dish to die for. As the story goes...Tommy couldn't cook his way out of a paper bag...so they had to line up all of the ingredients and keep the recipe to about 5 steps. The TV appearance went off as scheduled without a hitch, this creamy pollo dish remains on Jar's menu to this day...as does his immaculate repoire with the Smothers Bros. Dec 20th, 2008...Acoustic Christmas Carols... As far as we know ...everyone got their gear back...except for Dancin' Bear...his drums found a comfortable new home at the Moose Lodge for a couple of weeks following the extravaganza...Hey Matt, did you pick up your drums yet? Rumor has it the Moose Lodge is holding them ransom for the broken table incident from the night before. Our lawyers are on it. Ravinwolf had the honor of opening for Alice Stuart & the Formerlys earlier that same evening laying out the red carpet of guitar royalty. Tapestrys were flying in the vibratory wind of Bilyeu's slide-work as they warmed the stage for their sis & mentor...turns out Alice's bassist (Marc) and Ravinwolf's lead guitarist (Jamey) are related through Seattle's musical bloodline having jammed with Jamey's previous bandmates 'The Yarddogs"...and an old Ellensburg's favorite, Junior Cadillac, had an alumni present on the keys with Alice tonight as well! What a terrific reunion. Props go out to the "Employee of the month: "Pat" who manned the merchandise booth for Alice & Ravinwolf ... Pat, Alice's personal assistant and guitar tech kept her vintage collection immaculate ... what a dedicated friend and sis ... Apparently no one was injured when a central portion of the large stage gave way under the stress of tons of gear at last nights huge event. Event organizers handed Guitarist Jamey Bilyeu a bill for a broken table which he mistook for tissue paper and blew his nose in it. In a statement prepared by Bilyeu's own brain he stressed that "peace, love and broken stages" are what make the rockin' world go 'round... the rest of his comments were unprintable. We were lucky to have family backing us up on stage at the White Eagle Saloon in Portland, Ore., with FaeRaven's Poppy, Wayne "Fritz" Bartolet, on bass guitar! What a treat! Also accompanying the band on stage that night, stage left, was Mr. Alan Jones, with his vintage collection of Gibson mandolins...a heartwarming success in Portland all around. You can check out video footage of the show on YOU TUBE...courtesy of our friend and fan Jon Dickey. We're coming back in the Spring PDX...Great show guys! FaeRaven Alan Fritz Jamey At the Bit, we found the set lists of numerous acts that graced their haunted stage. Most unlikely a find is what appears to be the faded writing of the band "Big Radio" ...most notably FaeRaven noticed her favorite song of theirs heading the list ...'Hell to Pay'....what ever happened to 'Big Radio'? They used to rock The Brick Tavern, in Roslyn, Wa, with their rock harmonies. Despite the creepiness...we like the Bit. The talent buyer and owner were very down to earth, friendly dudes, with Obama like smiles. Their clientele really do like the live music...connosieurs you might say. We can't complain. But, what takes the cake, for all you club owners out there, what makes a bar cool...is when you service the canine clientele ! That The Bit did. Our biggest fan that night was a shepherd-rotweiller mix puppy...who COMPLETELY STOLE THE SHOW!!! It was general admission seating only at The Bit...we're on the grassy knoll...next time be sure to bring your own butt-pillows and concert chairs...we're lookin' forward to it! Halloween Bash...Lilly's Cantina (Ellensburg, Wa) Irrregarrdless...the jam was outstanding ...with the latest addition to the Ravinwolf team...Mr Brandon Brooks of Ellensburg's own 'Open Country Joy' Band joining the ranks on bass guitar this season. WELCOME Brandon...saddle up pardner... it's gonna be a ruff ride... Oct 28th...Ravinwolf live on the BURG 88.1 Fm college radio... ...psychedelic and frothing with bottled brew ...indeed... soy latte mustaches...side-walk parking...street dwelling musicians...and fans sandwiched into vintage cozy couches, these arm chair riders truly appreciate the fair-souled artistry of the American coffeehouse jam... A shamanesque post show physical therapy session for Cowboy Jamey's locked elbows...made us feel more than at home in this cozy little nook of what felt like Seattle's own Haight District. We hit the road late, making our usual stop in North Bend for McNuggets & hot apple pie...meandering through the Cascades to the snore of the Dancing Bear ...somehow not nodding off at the wheel before slamming against our downy pillows at sunrise, back in the Burg. Sleepy. Bye. Despite the patent leather shoe, we managed to get out of Wenatchee with a live recording of the show (courtesy of Darren from Caffe' Mela) and 2 hours of live video footage (compliments of our new buddy, Eric, from 'Off the Grid') which promises to make this holiday season a special occasion for Ravinwolf. These 'best of' original & cover cuts and 'brand new songs from the vault' should be available by the 2008 holiday season. The highlights include: Stick to Your Guns, Bluebird Sky, Caveman, Jakima Ho, For What it's Worth, Horse with no Name, Come into my Kitchen, Me & My Uncle and more...
Saturday... After the show, as usual, we cracked ourselves up. As 3 cop cars blazed by outside the pub looking like giant space spiders...where we happened to be gathered for some fresh air...Rodney gave a brief synopsis of the differences between gun toting in the urban neighborhoods of Seattle and gun toting in the grocery stores in Ellensburg...ha! "...like we be droppin' empty bullet shells in the aisle at the grocery store just fumblin' in our pockets for change, alright man, (LOL) in Ellensburg they hunt the baby deer and sh#@!" Very nicely put...perspective is everything. One of our favorite doormen, Luke, (you may know him as one of the Blackout Bros) insisted on kidnapping Matt... all the way over to Capitol Hill, through the downtown Seattle hills, ala San Francisco style, (seemingly to test our new tranny)...to DICK'S!!!! The line at Dick's (walk-up, old style burger drive-in where you can get like 8 burgers for $1) was around the block...tired, starving...not willing to wait out the bewitching hour crowd, we said our good-byes and hightailed it for the McD's at North Bend...a little more on the way home. Made it home by 4am...no love lost, of course. Amidst the celebration a group of 10+ foreign exchange students came to the stage and introduced themselves ...from the edges of the earth they emerged...Senegal, Lebanon, Turkmenistan, Serbia...expressing their joy, amazement and love for this form of the American lifestyle...dancing in the streets...laughter...food...young and old alike congregating for fun and each other's company. For a short moment, I believe, we all forgot about the world's conflicts (and the broken transmission). For a short moment we were all at peace... Sept 25, 2008 Sept 18, 2008 Friday... Saturday... Labor Day Weekend, 2008
You look for creation...you find it... (Ernest Hemingway)
Wednesday, May 26, 2010...THE OREGON TRAIL... Terry Robb...Ocean Rag Reflections.
We just spent 2 more weeks touring Oregon this May and the natural wonders of the Author of All Being never ceases to amaze us...this includes the most fabulous musical wonders we partake of & mind-blowing feats of fellow musicians...oh yes, and the buffalo outside of Lyle, Wa.
We arrived to the open arms of the community of music lovers in Roseburg, Oreogn this past month, a most unexpected surprise, to find a wonderful pocketful of community support for live music, a town which like our own hometown of Ellensburg, Wa, may have been mistaken a time or two for a simple pit-stop on the way to better adventures. Under the watchful eye of the Shasta Ray Productions venture, there is a magical number of music venues in Roseburg and we were luck enough to experience 3 of them during our stay in the area...one of which was a beautiful stained glass church turned event center in the heart of downtown, noted for being one of oldest churches in Oregon. The Jasmine Event Center. Here we met and were schooled by, legendary bluesman from Canada, now residing in Portland, Mr. Terry Robb. After we exchanged greetings via sterno, over oranges and chocolate, all of us threw down hard for one another in the sacred hall. The night concluded with a joint jam as Terry & Jamey slung slop-jar bar slop across the stage at one another to a full dance floor, standing room only, sold out crowd. And as we came together and clasped hands to take our bow at center stage, the crowd erupted into cheers....it was a blessed a gift as each bend the gods have put into every green draw of the Yakima Canyon at home...and strenthend my heart & resolve. Souls were going for a pretty high price that night and it was our honor to have been alive to witness the mayhem. Church services were held the following morning at the usual time, 9am.
Next stop was to the southern Oregon coastal town of Gold Beach to meet even more new friends at the Gold Beach Wine, Art & Music Festival. There we hooked up with this season's Curry County Fair, Pistol River Concert Series and a wonderful group of musicians from Brookings, OR...which happened to be our next stop on tour.
We set up camp that night at the Brookings Beachfront RV Park in the big green pickle, which as it turns out was great for advertising. There we enjoyed 4 heavenly days of tidepooling, beachwalking, seagull feeding, crab eating and seaside songwriting. Magical, to say the least, was FaeRaven's encounter with a lone wandering sea otter.
Sitting on the Oregon Coast is FaeRaven's most favorite place to be and on a sunny afternoon this week, sitting on a driftwood log, she witnessed a sea otter emerge out of the frothy water at low tide. He woggled up to the sandy beach a mere 30 feet away and began rolling around in the sand like a happy pup...scritchin' & smilin'. Then he got up and began running straight towards FaeRaven along the shoreline with that playful otter gait that finds the good in everything. He came VERY close, touched her with his eyes and dove back into the sea. Not even a local sea dweller could have asked for anything more special from the encounter.
Brown pelicans that numbered in the dozens flew by regularly. there were jetty kitties living feral in the rocks near camp who are under the watcheful eye of the local humane society and fed well on crunchies. FaeRaven found a seal tooth while beachcombing and witnessed 2 turkey vultures enjoying a rather large octopus that had washed up on the beach Jamey kept busy reading his pile of blues biographies...WC Handy, Muddy Waters, Charlie Patton, Skip James...and writing his first rag...taking Lil' Cloud the one-eyed road kitty for her first walks on the beach. Her impressions were that the beach was the biggest litter box she'd ever seen!
Later that week, our show in Brookings was at a modest cafe concert venue called The Centre Stage. A full house, on a Thursday evening was a pleasant surprise, so was the standing ovation. Met Toby, a little red-haired boy and magical joy...begging to be held and vowed to me we'd be friends forever...he loved turning over rocks and looking for bugs!
Onward to Newport, Oregon for the next night's show...177 miles through th eOregon sand dunes, wave soaked cliffs and numerous coastal settlements. Our 'professional driver' gets employee of the week for that drive of many windy miles! Another packed house, warm smiles and appreciative music lovers at Nana's Irish Pub. Newport sits on a coastal cliff overlooking a giant sandy beach...a dog's beach running dream...still another town I've passed through a dozen time and never really saw until now. A town that is not just a pit stop on Hwy 101, but worth spending a lot of time ...hip vibes.
We passed through the Rogue River Brewery Brewfest on Saturday in Newport with a surprise day off. Our Corvallis rooftop appearance pre-empted by the Oregon spring rains, so we decided to stay at the beach an extra day. We've been in need of a 'dog fix' lately as we miss our late "Spanky Girl", fox terrier who passed 3 years ago. Well, at the Brewfest we got our fix. It was not just a Brewfest it was a Dogfest! Everyone with a beer lovin' dog in tow. Everything from terriers to greyhounds, bulldogs to labrodoodles...we figured this is what heaven must be like. They hosted doggie olympics, washing & accessories for your dog....and oh yeah, there really was beer tasting too. Our perfect evening was topped off with a full arc double-rainbow arching over the river under purple clouds bright as a crystal cast prism can be... and a great blues concert with the Ty Culbertson Band...excuse my french...'big dickin' it' in proper blues fashion.
We crept home to the green pickle, tired and spent... cast about like the waves for dancin' funny like multi-colored bears all night long. Oh well. Could've seen that one coming.
Sunday morning, we headed inland to Albany on our way back to Central Washington to partake in Calapooia Brewery's Sunday Blues Jam. only took a couple of songs before Sagebrush Jamey fetched his axe & boogie to the jam...and a couple more songs before Froggy had talked FaeRaven into wailin' some Bessie Smith. A great day of blues spent recovering with old new friends.
Gotta head home Monday, to ready ourselves for Tuesday's concert on the CWU campus in 24 hours. the last vision of this leg of our journey was that beautiful Multnomah Falls on the Oregon side, namesake of FaeRaven's song "I love a Waterfall", and the Golden Eagle we saw sitting tall in a confier with wings spread sunning itself by the Great Salmon River on the way home...a visio blessed by the Creator...
Back to God's garden in the sageland that holds my heart. The mother cow with her calf, the tractor posed to plow, the seedlings pushing up ground, the swallows are all back in town. the hills of sage and russian thistle are greener this year than I've ever seen with purrrrple grasses and yellow-orange patches of circles along all the rubbled hills of terse soil. The clouds above are flat bottomed and rising round into a three dimensional bluest sky. It's good to be back home.
Sunday, August 30, 2009 ... One of the most impressive audiences yet...the forest.
We've never been more astonished by a venue...modest, yet beautiful, second only to the Gorge Ampitheater itself...and our audience, the trees in this best kept secret in all of Western Washington. Lynndale Park of Edmonds, Wa. We did our best serenade to the Standing Ones and no matter where you stood in the forest, the sound was perfection.
We were please to share the billing with Shelfhead Jake of Seattle during this Rock 'n Roll BBQ and meeting of the minds last Sunday afternoon.
Despite the steep climb onto the stage deep in the Tolkeinesque forest, we managed to leave mothing behind in the dark...it seemed the only real light missing from the evening as dusk drew on, was the lightning bugs. Ribs smeared mics and potato salad leavings on the drumsticks was well worth the feasting at elevensies. The two band bonded and vowed to do it again next year...or perhaps a little sooner. It was hard to bid farewell to this aboreal venue.
The Fourth of July...Red, White & Blues Festival!
rVw loves to explore new regions and play new venues...like collecting stamps or something...
This weekend, on the 233 birthday of our eclectic nation, we got to explore the edge of the sagebrush land in the Roza Hills/Rattlesnake AVA region... the edge of Zillah, Wa., at Silver Lake Winery...a rather large venue perched on the irrigated desert outcrop of the dry basin for the Yakima Valley's Red, White & Blues Festival. Beautiful vineyard...the heat was hot and the ground was dry, but the air was full of sound!
A concert on the grass with BBQ chicken and red wine jello shots...barefeet weather kept the sets short and the ice water breaks frequent as post Rothbury Cheese Incident survivors, we explored the new musical corners lurking in our set list. Kind Taynea sent us home with a case of wine. The only thing we had to turn around for this time was Jamey's wedding ring & om ring, which, in a bout of hand claustrophobia & heat exhaustion, he removed and neatly stacked on the cement retaining wall in front of the winery. No worries...I think we gave 'the Coyote Kings' friendly start when we pulled back into the parking lot with OUR trailer as they were setting up their portable stage for the evening's festivities...oops...sorry guys...we'll catch ya on down the ole lonely when we come to your town in October. Nice stage, by the way. Genius. Took the Canyon way home and saw White Pelicans.
June 26th & 27th ...
Saturday...Slept in before hitting the road to Leavenworth, Wa in the beautiful peaks of the Mt Stuart Range. Rodney had 'brat-fever' before we even left the Burg and set the rVw record for brat eating...amidst the tourist crowd...the outdoor venue permitted us to call in extra listeners from the penthouse suite of the nearby hotels when they heard the sweet acoustic tones ringin' out down the mountain valley. By the 2nd set we were sweaty...the crowd was riveted and the dancing girls were getting their picture taken with the band. Things got so riled up that our buddy Issac, the main man beer-tender, had to commence to doing his stout behind-the-neck pull ups from the wrought-iron lattice gate surrounding his beer counter. He is now rVw's own personal trainer. Jamey loaded out all by himself..(just kidding...Rodney helped)...and smartly stashed the van-keys in his sweaty boots for safe-keeping for which we spent a little while circling the van like vultures trying to figure out where they went...Song of the Night by crowd consensus and applause meter: "Copperhead Road"...
After the gig...we shared road stories with Abigail and Bill of Sapolil Cellars...I think they want to manage the band... :) On the way home we passed up 'Crazy Mary's" for 'the Cougar Cafe', yet again, outside of Tri Cities where we munched on jo-jo's and bean & cheese burritos...don't tell our financial planner we're eating at 7-11 again after the gig...son-of-a-beanstalk! It's the only thang open that time of day... See ya soon Walla Walla!
June 21st...Solstice...Father's Day...Peace Concert...
We were priviledg
ed enough to be invited to perform at the Seattle Peace Concert Series this year. What a great time we had! Our tye dyes called in all sorts of conversations with the crazies...and our music called in all sorts of conversations with Seattle's music lovin' citizens...we were very flattered by their response to our set and Don Glen's (Concert Organizer) kind words. The cloudy sky seemed to part about a third of the way through our set and let the sun begin to shine. Acoustic Vibrations love the sky when there are heavy molecules to be messed with...the dramatic old Gasworks Park set a great contrast to the music like ruins from Mad Max after healing from the end of days. We were duly impressed by 'Septimus' , the band that followed our set, a family quintet, who sported a robust horn section...Bessie Smith vocals, outstanding guitarwork by Coleman Brown (now a kindred spirit to rVw), groovy R & B-funk rhythms with a highly energetic and interactive front man in Frank Brown... hope to see everyone again next year.We got to know Ultrviolet Uforia, with a techno jam edge, who also provided sound for the event. They were kind enough to video tape the concert ... DVD forthcoming ... stay-tuned in for details.
With a walk-by audience that included newly married couples still outfitted in their wedding attire, joggers, Mary Magdeline look-alikes, tandem bicyclists, tightrope jugglers, kite twirlers, naked babies and the man himself...it was a day in the big city of Seattle for rVw...that evening, with Rodney's help, we navigated ourselves deeper into Ballard to make a 15 minute showing at the Conor Byrne open mic night where we rubbed elbows with the local neighborhood talent. Seems like Seattle is bursting at the seams with blossoming singer-songwriters. Fun was had by the whole lot of us...after black bea
ns and collard greens at Hatties Hat we hightailed it outta town and back to the desert sage for some well needed rest and recuperation. Thanks Seattle...FOR A REAL GOOD TIME!
June 12 & 13th...Friday: Bookwalter Winery...
We had a good showing in Richland, Wa., last weekend getting to know a new region of the State of Washington's Wine Country. Just off the freeway, you can walk from winery to winery tasting the harvest of beautiful grapes...rolling waterfed hills of vines greeted us under a bruised sky as we deliberated over whether or not the clouds would burst forth with thunder and rain before we had a chance to play our show. We decided to risk it and set up amongst a beautiful flower garden on the patio of Bookwalter Winery...obviously someone with a green thumb took great care in the surroundings of such a lovely garden. We met many working couples on a Friday night enjoying the sounds we made and each other. The mosquito's closed the show for us with a showstopping "Itchy Skin Blues"...and we piled on the DDT for on more song...Everyone satiated, we headed up the old lonely toward home and stopped into the Cougar Cafe' for bean & cheese burritos and twinkies...oh yeah and a smoke.
Saturday...Back in our old stomping ground at Tim's Downtown Tasting Room (formerly 'Taste of Washington, formerly, Massett Winery) we once again had the pleasure of being joined by the psychedelic Dr. Dead (Dr. Smith)...WE had a great time together exploring new realms of musical reality...as up the Street Vicci Martinez was getting ready to take the stage at the Sports Center. We finished up by 10:30pm and headed up the block to have our minds blown by the smallest guitar player we've ever seen...beers out back with the band...turns out her bass player grew up with our drummer on "How Are You" and it's all in the family as ususal.... it was nice to just hang with the VMB. A recommended Ravinwolf artist to behold...
May 29th & 30th
Friday & Saturday...We must say this is one of those weekends we've been waiting for all season. Two of the more beautiful wineries on our Washington State Wine Tour this year is Lake Chelan Winery and Vin du Lac Winery along the banks of Lake Chelan...we were not left disappointed. We made brand new friends all the way from Darrington and Monroe this weekend...both Wineries served up a delicious selection of wine pairings...a favorite stopover for ALLLL the tourists in town this weekend.
Our campsite at Wapato Lake was like a scene out of summer camp. With old school life jackets, row boat rentals by the hour, 75 cent coffee and penny candy for 2 cents...we were in outdoor lovin' hippie-heaven. The pond's caretaker boasted the states largest bass, reknowned for plucking newborn ducklings from the water's surface. The water near the banks of the lake showed off crappie and groups of trout you could see just below the surface with the naked eye. The birdlife was precocious flaunting barn swallows that alighted on temporary clotheslines strung upon the campers' RVs, kill deer and mudding swallowtails that would let you reach out and touch their wings...mallards with the brightest green heads we've ever seen, friendly dragonflies and even the rare oriole...Washington State's own Gallapagos. We feasted on Caesar Salad and beans beneath a weeping elm letting go her sap...weeping on our arms, but not quite sticky... We slept like babies with the doors open and the summer wind cooling the desert steppe.
Memorial Day Weekend 2009
Friday...we headed out a day early this weekend since our destination was the northern reaches of Washington State...first stop Omak...the show's not 'til tomorrow but we figured on camping the night before so we are bright-eyed and bushy-tailed for the noontime showtime. Halfway there, along the breathtaking Columbia, dilithium crystals sparkling on the water FaeRaven recalled that a Friday driver-by-the-Ravinwolf house had mentioned the Spring Bartar Faire was going on this weekend. Turns out we're 20 miles away from Tonasket, said location of the Faire, and decided we'd rather camp with our brethren than down in the country of our red comrades...what a bloody coincidence...I don't think so...having survived an impeccable experience at the Gorge last weekend the gig gods were looking down upon us with favor and we weren't going to waste the opportunity...up the dry dusty cliffs east of Tonasket...we entered the dust zone ...made our way to the front of the line where we met Skeeter himself...the honor was all ours...he directed us directly to the stage where they were going to try to fit us into their line-up...Let the magic begin...low and behold...who happened onto the stage right before our bleeding eyes? Our, now dearest friends, Sidestreet Reny & 'Lil Bell...FaeRaven knew it right off of course...having never met one another in person seemed to matter for naught 'cuz as soon as we identified ourselves it was hugs and decorations all around...sweet as a gumdrop 'Lil Bell...purist and outstanding lyricist was Reny himself. A Ravinwolf recommended artist...male -female duo like ourselves, yet featuring guitar and drums only...spectacular roots meets reggae dozen tossin'...
Needless to say, we spent the eventful evening together feeding the stoned donkey apples and carrots after dark at the kids petting zoo...joining in the hippie-hay fight...dancing to the drum circle that lulled us all to sleep and keeping each other warm as any family could. Lucky we were to run into old friends and new. Learned to trade for our wares and left with our hearts buzzing and our fingers tingling with excitement as we look towards our upcoming musical set in October at the Fall Barter Faire...can't wait to meet up with everyone again.
Saturday...Not so tearful goodbyes the next morning sent us on our way to Rockwall Cellars where we treated winetasting tourists to a bit of our acoustic morning dew...they gifted us with wine and praise as we hightailed it out of their paradise nestled in between family owned orchards and vines towards our new destination,Winthrop, WA.
(The only mishap we can recall about this weekend is FaeRaven leaving her cell phone plugged into the outdoor power outlet at Rockwall Cellars...she last saw it among a bevy of foraging quail...no worries...it'll be good to be without a phone for a week...)
As usual the Old Schoolhouse Brewery greeted us with outstretched arms, smiles and spiritual gifts of hops and flutes...We spent our afternoon Sunday rehearsing by the Methow River with fervor, possessed by our recent experience and inspired by the fresh mountain air. That evening marked a performance to remember as the Twins (our 2 Takamine friends) sang one to the other through our fingertips...stunning our hero (Mr. Casey Ruud) into fits sound...stuttering...muttering...we can't quite recall...certainly, a Ruud awakening for sure as he paid us back by taking us on a Qi Gong vision quest Monday morning along the banks of Lake Patterson...as we gave our troubles to the lake water they crave, a mated pair of swallows performed a water ballet for us spinning and twirling up and down from the water in circles and bends touching one another the entire time. We've never been so gifted. It's times like these we learn to live again. Grateful.
May 15th...the night before...
Perfect venue for a perfect night...The Dead Eve...not only were we eager to lay it down before setting out to the Gorge Ampitheater to witness the show of a lifetime, but so was our boss, friend and owner of the Vogue Lounge...turns out we had tickets to the same show in the same section...The Vogue was packed with music lovers and begged for a 3rd encore as we wiped our brow, gave it to 'em and split on out into the queuebensis night...the heavenly blue...the morning glory dawn... We love playing the Vogue...
Now that's an awesome looking stage...a week before the world famous Western Art Show & Auction hosted annually in Ellensburg, Wa., we had the priviledge of performing in front of some amazing pieces of artwork...great vibe for our psychedelic blues feel this past weekend...great vibe for the psychedelic wines being served up by Totem Cellars, White Heron Winery and a new winery out of Vantage, Frenchman Hills Winery owned & operated by a team of cowboy brothers we grew to love over the course of the afternoon... AND... thanks to the extraordinary psychedelic talents of Dr. Bret Smith (aka. Dr. Dead) on the mandolin, lap steel & electric cello, who always keeps us on our proverbial musical toes with his purist tendencies. 
Not having travelled White Pass ever...cumulatively not in 20 years or so...FaeRaven, the navigator must have been buttering the early morning bagel when the ole Ravinwolf convoy whizzed right past the turnoff outside of Naches, there, and didn't quite figure out they were headed over Chinook, which, it appears from the confusing stares of the various local critters they passed along the way, is closed still at this time of year...."But I thought Whistlin' Jack's was on White Pass..." Ravinwolf is good at playing the music and only at playing the music...they never claimed to be excellent navigators. 40 miles later the brakes came to a hault in front of a 'PASS CLOSED" gate. An hour later they found the White Pass turn off and headed properly to their commitments in Chehalis, Wa...blushing and embarassed, but nonetheless on their way. Once a body passes over the Pass and flattens out into the valley of Milton...I-5 is still a good 65 miles away...jeesh! What the f#%^$! Misjudged this trip completely.
Ravinwolf arrived to the warm welcome of our new friends, the Heymann Whinery Crew, a family run and owned winery in Chehalis...home of an award winning Cranberry Wine, which FaeRaven took to with Swiss Cheese immediately amidst the torrent of the wet coastal Chehalis Valley rain...set up and played in the rain on day 1. (..a week later...came down with a wicked cold...) We managed to find Rainbow Falls Park IN THE DARK that evening for camping. What seemed like a whole lifetime later we munched on tabouleh salad and PB & J IN THE DARK...amongst a grove of low vibrating beautiful Old Growth Douglas Fir and Hemlock Trees...the air among the trees was soothing and healing to our weary bones which we quickly laid down to rest with the light sound of rain on the roof of Moby Dick...this is one for the lesson books, no doubt.
May 1, 2009
The Wenatchee Apple Blossom Festival was one of the highlights of our year so far. The great sound crew made the experience very pleasureable for us as we were able to stretch our wings like we had not expected. Cudos and more to you guys...we can't wait to work with you again.
Rodney played his heart out and we all enjoyed the line-up of music while we snacked on a dish of pasta from our Ellensburg Wildcat Buddies in the food court...FaeRaven's favorite attraction, however was that "red neck windchime"...if that don't say it all...yeah!
April 18, 2009
The continuing saga of the cursed slide bar seems to be linked to the recent appearance of Ravinwolf in the audience of a reknowned Seattle Southern Blues Juke Joint. After having their ears sizzled by Nick Vigarino's Meantime Blues, it seems Jamey's slidebar has taken tojumping off of the stage twice now during consecutive shows this weekend. Resorting to the back-up steel slide, no-one, we repeat, NO ONE, at the Leavenworth Ale Fest cut their toes on the fragments of the blues we left behind on the dance floor at the Leavenworth AleFest this year... THANK YOU NICK!
March 6th & 7th...still snowing...
Friday...we had a great First Friday showing at the all ages coffee shop performing venue in Yakima at Northtown Coffee. With a cozy basement performance, surrounded by couches we were flattered to meet the kids inspired by the music. A young maiden with guitar in hand, in the second row said, " you were just what I needed tonight." There's a young element with wide innocent eyes at Northtown, still searching for purpose and meaning, unscathed as of yet by this god-forsaken world and I think we were the one's privileged enough this weekend to have THEM in OUR audience. Thanks patrons of Northtown Coffee...you made our night!
Saturday...Swung by and picked up T-rod about 4 just as the snowflakes started to spit and word of a possible Pass closure reached us through the grapevine. Deliberation began as we made the Ravinwolf pact "the show must go on" despite the weather and depsite the economy! Jamey slipped into his tuxedo and quickly sized our brand new chains to fit the studs we had outfitted on our gig-rig, and by 4:30 we were headed to the upper county and beyond. Just past Easton the conditions were insane....
As Jamey jumped out in the miniature pelting down torrent of snowballs fitted the chains and T Rod supervised the affair ...we won't soon repeat this excursion. As we closed in on Issaquah, to make our scheduled appearance at Pogacha, we brought the storm with us. We hauled our gear through the storm into a packed house of music lovers who didn't mind our road worn appearance. Quick to the stage the show got started fashionably late and ended with a bang! We're looking forward to Spring...that's for sure.
February 28th...Caffe' Mela Recording Session
Saturday in Wenatchee, Wa, at Caffe Mela marked the date for recording the live final cuts to be premiered on Acoustic Champagne, in the works since last September. It's really a snapshot of Ravinwolf's 2008 live line-up of talented musicians featuring the dangerous and raw live sound we tote around all season.
The small concert venue was full of music lover's tonight...a first time Ravinwolf dose for most. We're looking forward to final mix down early this Spring and hopefully an early summer release of the new album. Yeah!
The Mela recording stage...
February 14, 2009 ...Valentine's Day!
The Methow River in the throws of winter sits like a blue sheet of ice, reminicent of the ice flows of Whittier, Alaska in my mind. An almost aqua blue, the absolute purest state of mountain H2O giving the river itself an even wilder feel than during the warmer season of tumbling rapids. 
In places the ice had broken up and there perched communities of bald eagles and golden eagles all along the river, scanning the surface of the water for the day's catch. We must have counted over 25 eagles wintering along the Methow River for over 45 miles in all their snow covered regality. Breathtaking.
The Methow River Valley is also lined with beautiful orchards and in winter they stand row upon row like skeleton trees contrasting in bright red and brown against the white snow covered land. They mark the fertile character of the river valley. Each orchard is coupled with a suspension type foot bridge stretching across the river and into the fields of trees. Some of the foot bridges look like they're over 100 years old, tattered ropes hanging just like the climax of an Indiana Jones movie...but it gives the valley its own special trademark.
For Valentine's Day in the winter location of Winthrop, Wa, we were surprised to see the streets bustling with tourists and avid ski bums scuffling about...like an old west version of Aspen, CO. We were so pleased to see our old friends Casey & Laura Ruud at the Old Schoolhouse Brewery were making it through their first year of businiess with flair and determination. Brewed to perfection, their task force has undertaken the process of beer brewing with the precision of their master brewer and physicist Blaze and with the attention to detail of a biochemist. A Methow taste sensation not to be overlooked when traveling to this tiny destination Burg.
The clientele of the Old Schoolhouse Brewery was in a familiar way this Valentine's Day, befriending our music with the appreciation of kindred souls. Tucked away in this mountain nook, we met a barrage of master craftsmen who have consciously placed themselves inbetween the wild places of the North Cascades. We met a world class cowboy poet who also joined us on his bagpipes during a late night set. We met the infamous Thor Heyerdale's close associate turned radio DJ.... the Vice President to the Atlantis Foundation ... and a master chair maker whose chairs
are art for sitting! Everyone was swaying in the bliss of an acoustic wind by RW.
We were definitely in the presence of greatness this weekend...to include the deer nestled in snow-nests along the river banks and the bald eagle feeding on the snow spit just off the beer garden deck behind the brewery...or the horses sharing their green hay breakfast with their yearling doe friends.
February 13, 2009 ... off to Chelan, Wa...
Chelan " Local Wisdom" Highlight: "Always cut your hair on the full moon or just before...as the moon is going into its full phase..." - Christie (Lakeside Best Western, Chelan, Wa)
We had not been to Chelan in over 10 years. Rolling into town we noticed our favorite old lonely fence had been replaced by a brand new elk fence lined neighborhood plot and the city itself had added a few albeit unfinished new condo complexes, in light of the current economic crisis. But, with the fog settling in across Lake Chelan and the silence of the morning snowfall on the beach just outside our hotel balcony, creating a pure magical ambience, not even the rage of the almighty dollar could ruin this moment...
We were welcomed with open arms by the proprieter of the Vogue Lounge (a downtown Wine Bar and Espresso Lounge), Mike McCooney, who treated us to wine and coffee throughout the duration of our stay. It seems his favorite cuts of the night were 'Eyes of the World' , 'Cassidy' and 'Stella Blue'. Much to our enjoyment, we will be hooking up at the Gorge with Mike in the Spring for a real Dead experience...can't wait!
That evening, sleepless in Chelan, buzzing from a successful show in front of a packed house, Jamey stepped out on the balcony of our suite to come face to face with a wide-eyed visitor.... A great-horned owl had flown in for a visit and taken up perch on the flower planters near our room. Still ...like a cat in the night...they exchanged wit and wisdoms before parting ways...Jamey will have to fill you in on the rest...stay tuned.
January 20, 2009...Our brand new first family!!!! Congratulations Obamas !
Jan 7, 2009...FLOOD!!!!
We are happy to report, that despite the knee high water coming into the infamous Ravinwolf rehearsal wood-shack...the river running down the street...and the drum kit we retrieved floating downstream...we managed to recover or save most of our gear unscathed. Yes, a river running through our yard this year set us back a couple of weeks. Our thanks goes out to the the wonderful Red Cross, the City of Ellensburg's Fire Department, FEMA & the Kittitas County Republican Party... and the helpful neighbors and fans that came to our rescue as we toted our black boxes to the cargo trailer and onto higher ground. Our apologies to the unsuspecting fans, whose shows we had to reschedule for the Spring in the tri-cities area due to the flood set-backs. Here are a few pics of the flood for your enjoyment...
Our Front Yard
Rollin' down the road towards Yakivegas in our studded snowtires is bringing us peace on earth during this white Christmas season...tonight we shared the stage with the vocalists from The Blue Tropics as they assembled an acapella version of themselves and performed an intermission set during the Ravinwolf show of acapella favs from the 50's and 60's ...FaeRaven took it upon herself to name the group the Blue Tropicapellas...and it just might stick...she got a hearty laugh from the crowd and the band for that one...for once... Ravinwolf performed a jazzy singer-songwriter showcase and feasted on the 5 star gourmet mexican cuisine at the Santiago's venue. 
So, if you get to Santiago's in Yakima, Wa...be sure to try the Smothers Bros dish! We highly recommend it.
Oh, yeah...before we headed home, we hightailed it across the Ave to the Yakima Sports Center to deliver a package of Christmas Cookies to our dear friend Pat Moss! The Center took on a distinct odor of juke joint blues with the Pat Moss Jam going on down there...one could almost see a smoke filled room of blues emerging out of the darkness of some river bottom cypress swamp south of the border...in usual Moss flair, he opened our can of goodies on stage and sniffed the contents...and replied, "I'm diggin' it!" We shook ass right outta there and into our own Winter Wonderland to rest up for the upcoming New Year's Eve show... sleep tonight.
Dec 22nd, 2008...The Family Farm...
Ravinwolf is back in the studio in January to record a new song for an upcoming Farm Aid documentary at Cascade Productions. The new song entitled "Family Farm" is the latest creation to cross the Ravinwolf desk. It tells the story of the song-writers' own familys' farms as told by the oral history of their respective families and paints a personal story of the decline of the family farm in rural America. Leaning Wolf Productions is engineering and producing the film in which Barack Obama, John McCain and Willie Nelson are interviewed concerning the future of the Organic Farming in America.
In conjunction with this project Ravinwolf is anticipating the Spring release of an all acoustic live album entitled "Acoustic Champagne" due to be recorded in February of 2009. Pre-sales of "Acoustic Champagne" are underway online at...Lil Cloud's Country Store... anyone can reserve their first run copy now...the live album will feature never before recorded cuts such as Whispering Secrets, The Family Farm, All in Love, Bluebird Sky, Make Believe, The Morning Song, Dancin' Tree...and many more...
The holiday season is well underway...Santa is coming...he's loaded his sleigh...
Ravinwolf is making a weak attempt at learning their Christmas Carols in hopes of putting out a Christmas CD next year...and in hopes of putting on a decent noontime show at Dakota Cafe in Ellensburg, Wa, this holiday season...
After performing our finest attempt at our version of the holiday's Christmas Carols , we were packing up our guitars, when a family of 4 (with 2 munchkins of course) sat down at the table at the front of the stage eager to hear some carols. We heard their Mom pipe up "One more song!"...in the spirit of the season we agreed...and asked for a request..."FROSTY THE SNOWMAN," the munchkins chirped loudly with glee... luckily, FaeRaven had pirated the lyrics and chords off of the most generous internet just such an emergency encore ...we launched into "Frosty" and the munchkins began singing along...to our amazement they knew every freaking lyric of that song by heart! We strummed and they sang all the way down to the thumpity-thump-thump, thumpity-thump kick line... it was a heart-warming rendition of Frosty in little voices that left us smilin' and living vicariously for the rest of the pre-holiday week.
Another memorable moment came, when the son of Jamey's middle school English teacher approached the stage to purchase a copy of our debut album"How Are You?" He told us a story of how he had spent much of 1999 trying to record the title track "How Are You?" off of the radio and then had proceeded to lose the cassette...we were blushing with flattery...remembering the days we had tried to do the same with our own top 40 favorites...the long lost time before mp3 digital downloading...how sweet...we sent him home with a copy of "Buttons and Freedom" as well, compliments of Santa, for his stocking. You fans are too much!
Dec 5th, 2008...Toys for Tots !
This year's Toys for Tots brought out one of the largest crowds we've seen in years...kicking off at 5pm this year featured a live line-up of 3 new acts...Rusted Soul, Above All Odds & Mr 'E'....along with Ravinwolf, Rhythm Junction Blues Band, & SDI bringing up the rear as ususal... Above All Odds took the Blue Ribbon this year out of sheer cuteness...ahhh...they were just plain hot! I think their oldest player couldn't have been more than 14 years old...and talented...searing our ears with those Sweet-Child-O-Mine licks...and touching our collective heart with their soulful originals...I think they had the fullest dance floor of the whole night...those boys sure have a bright future headed their way.
Special thanks goes out to Mr. Zane Hauser for permitting the use of his drums by every freaking hard-hitting drummer to cross the stage that night. I think Rodney owes him a drum head. Ravinwolf's pick for the night was SDI, of course, who brought the entire band this year...Mr. Pugh's vocals were outstanding, despite having clean up duty earlier in the month concerning the shart in Jamey's shorts...and Spike at the keys...yummm...a rare night indeed...I do believe Michael Doll & Billy Bilyeu were sited in the alley sharing a doob...
Dec 4th...Go ask Alice!
If you wanna know how to bring the house down with the finesse of a blues goddess...go ask Alice...'cuz that's exactly what she did last Friday at Ellensburg's First Friday Art Walk & Dance in downtown Ellensburg! With grace and crunch Alice Stuart and the Formerlys put on a fantastic and personal show that set Ravinwolf back on its heels. Complete with a late night, end of the show antecdotal rendition of Dylan's "One Too Many Mornings"...which Alice described in fireside chat manner and detail to late night 'Burgers', that she had taught the song to David Crosby and the rest of CSN herself...
Dec 3rd, 2008...Ware Fair...
The first festive event of the Holiday Season got underway for us at the Central Washington University Annual Ware Fair...held this year at the new SURC Building...Ravinwolf played a blistering holiday set closing with a personalized rendition of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" to a noontime student lunch crowd and a throng of handcrafted ware sellers up in the balcony...looks like the 21 Century brought with it an upgrade for the students in this mall-like venue sporting a high-end espresso stand...food court...indoor track & gym with full workout apparatus & indoor rock climbing wall...airport-like shopping facilities and of course a full fledged information center and state-of-the-art radio station....WOW...what an upgrade...enjoy it while ya can kids cuz...it's dog eat dog out here!
Most memorable moment of the Ware Fair: the vendor who sat his chair right in front of our merchandise booth and poster...blocking the view...oh well...oh yeah...the pressed flowered candles were pretty cool too.
Nov 28th...Portland bound...
When travelling to Oregon...to go through the Tri Cities of Kennewick, Richland and Pasco of Washington State...IS the long way... We got approximations from the locals in Kennewick that PDX was another 5-6 hours away. On the contrary, it's only 3 hours or so. We stopped in for an open mic at the Island Casino...took the live music venue tour of the town...visiting a few stages in our future...then headed onward toward Umatilla... We arrived in our Portland Marriott suite at 1 am.
Wednesday afternoon...we gathered for a rehearsal with our Portland team. An afternoon of hot chocolate and cuts from 'Big Smith' , 'Ravinwolf' and 'The Grateful Dead' and we were ready for the show...we scooted down to the club (The White Eagle Saloon) to have a gander at the haunted site rumored to have the ghosts of whores lingering upstairs and the legends of the damp Portland tunnel trails winding beneath the city...it all pretty much gave FaeRaven the industrial creeps. But the burgers were good and the staff was awesome!
After sleeping off the Turkey Day extravaganza, we were ready to rock. Friday afternoon,
The Reverb Bros warmed up the room during happy hour with a jumpin' bluesy jam and exited like pros...we filed in through the beer garden, where patrons can warm themselves by outdoor fire pits in the misty port land of the great Columbia, set up our recording gear and got a quick orientation and soundcheck.
Friday night was a veritable Gresham High School reunion party for FaeRaven as almost a third of her graduating class showed up to support Ravinwolf! Like the old high school sock-hop they packed the dance floor for Jakima Ho...also sited in the crowd were some old grateful hippy twirlers decked out their best yellow and blue aura. 
November 20th...Thursday nite in Seattle...
Saddle-tramps and Horse-thieves couldn't keep ole Ravinwolf away from this dumpster dive.
At a 3-point intersection near the docks in Ballard...the Bit Saloon stands alone...survivin' with the smell of aged kegs, piss and the rock 'n roll of ages gone by. In one room...a 'Slasher' cut drips from the bar room stereo while in the staging room next door a happy hippy train-groovin' bluegrass jam gets underway with our buddies the fabulous Dandelion Greens! Good sports all around they drew quite a crowd to Ballard having travelled all the way from Friday Harbor to join us in this double billing at the Bit. Jules, the Brit soundman, wins employee of the week for his consummate professionalism and respect shown to both the bands. We expect to run into him later.
Great local turnout for our halloween bash at Lilly's Cantina...
Despite the angst of the upcoming Presidential Election...Cowboy Jamey
opted to dress down as a fence rider for this year's celebration...sporting an Obama T-shirt and cap in front and a McCain campaign slogan on his ass!!!! Yes some decisions are just a bit too difficult to make...FaeRaven opted against the Sarah Palin costume despite a unanimous vote by the band in favor of it...why pick an already bleeding scab...how tacky.
We are pleased to be archived on Central Washington University's 88.1 FM the Burg for a fabulous pre-Halloween radio broadcast of our single "Dyin' Day" and special interview with noontime DJ Megan O'Malley...links and details to come...
Oct 19th...the fabulous Chai House in Ballard... 
The urban myth that fabricates coffee houses only serve coffee...has been proven false. Beneath Ballard's ballast mushrooms towering above us like a trip down the old rabbit hole, our visit into the hood was a rainy day version of Alice's Wonderland...
Oct 10th & 11th...the patent leather shoe incident...
Friday...
First time over Blewett Pass since she took the old tranny and ...the new 9 gear wonder did the trick! We got 2 words for you... Tow package. Caffe' Mela gave us a warm welcome...serenading the attentive audience to the aroma of roasting coffee beans tested both our vocal stamina and our coffee addiction. It seems that the most challenging task of the night for our beloved Matt and a test to his musical performance...were his patent leather shoes...one of which was found after the show sparkling in the middle of Wenatchee Ave...subsequently, Jamey...a little charmed by the patent leather shoe...mistook a stuffed witch for FaeRaven... (very funny)... and began chatting lively at the seasonal decoration in the most peculiar manner. Rodney, of course, took it all in stride...jamming on the house grand piano during soundcheck while the club owner, Darren, played his skins. ....later, retrieving an errant sneaker left on stage and a couple sopping wet lead guitar playin' t-shirts & bandanas, we all found our seats in the gig rig and headed on down that road feelin' bad.
Eccentric was the night, indeed. Has anyone seen the moon lately?
We had a blast working with Eric again...what a RW team dead member he has turned out to be. There are rumors on the streets of Wenatchee that the whole RW crew is gonna follow 'Off the Grid' to their Barter Fair show in Tanasket next weekend! Yeah!
Plans change in road managing quicker than the leaves in autumn. Gathering up the carpoolers for our debut gig at the Beacon Pub proved to be quite challenging this weekend. Our doorman...well, he slept in...like Ripped Van Winkle...our drummer...he decided he'd like to spend a romantic weekend in Seattle and that he did...our Matt...he was early! Great Scott!!! Irregardless...we piled in the car with ace wrapped wrists and made it to the church on time. We breathed a sigh of relief to find that the Beacon Pub had no qualms about broadcasting their political views to the neighborhood...with an OBAMA/BIDEN campaign sign on the street corner next to their door. We knew this was the perfect venue for RW. Corner stage...beer garden, warm neighborly gathering for happy hour...interest and questions from the bar patrons as we loaded our equipment made us immediately feel right at home. We sold 4 albums before the show started and fielded demands for RW T-Shirts! By the time showtime rolled around, we were ready to soar for these friendly folks. We gave 'em 3 long sets of sizzlin' acoustic rock...They gave us latin ballroom swivelling hips on the dancefloor...birthday parties...hallelujah circles... and dumbfounded looks...like we've been locked away in a desert crook woodsheddin' somewhere in what's left of the dry pine forest meets sagebrush blues...and drug our sorry dusty asses into the big city... to slay the wide-eyed and tender, sure footed, street-lovin' flat-landers with Ravinwolf's finest acoustic mountain jam... look...turtles...we love every last one of 'em! Thanks Laurie, Lindy, Josh and the crew...we'll see ya in December with bells on!
Oct 4th, 2008
Lovingly we refer to this month as ROCKTOBER!!!
We headed out of the gates full speed ahead this month in Issaquah, Wa, for the Annual Salmon Days festival...organized to celebrate the return of the Pacific Northwest Salmon fish to the local streams and rivers of the Cascade foothills. Unique in its own right and a town Ellensburg's Downtown could learn a lot from, the community of Issaquah has erected a fish hatchery at city center! Very cool. We returned to our local haunt, Pogacha, and aroused a festival crowd full of old friends and new patrons to cheers and foot tapping as the Ravinwolf Unplugged Trio...complete with Matt on Stand-up bass & high hat groove...a listening-crowd pleasing show. As usual the staff was very friendly to us and the chef's prepared a find leg of lamb...and homemade ravioli...Spotted at the scene was the beloved mother-in-law of the King of Cowboy Blues...she is quoted as saying..."this is my favorite rendition of Ravinwolf yet!" Thanks Mom!
As usual, Ravinwolf was hard up to find late night snacks...Fat Burger...closed...rapping on the window of Krispy Kreme at midnight got not donuts down our craw...toughing it out...we settled for pepperoni stix and pastrami sammys...again. Thanks for having us, Issaquah!
Sept 26th & 27th, 2008
This weekend we found ourselves in Leavenworth, Wa, for the 44th annual Autumn Leaf Festival and 2nd Annual Cedar Street Block Party....not quite mentally prepared for the whos down in Whoville experience from the twilight zone...and...after playing to a politically charged crowd during Friday night's Presidential Debate...amidst broken transmissions, cold feet and excellent new sister band encounters...we strolled the Saturday morning crowds to the waves of Autumn Leaf princesses, at least 10 marching bands decked in their finest uniformity, proud men in lederhosen, milkmaid- St. Paulie Girl pooper scoopers, clydesdales and a Bavarian spirit like none other than Germany itself. I think we were still wet behind the ears from rainy Thursday's concert on the street in Issaquah...nonetheless...we found the nearest tow strap and with the help of our independent and geologically charged friend Drew, we hauled the gig rig up to Cedar Street to set up for a Block Party Barack Obama would be proud of! THE SHOW MUST GO ON !!!
We had the honor of playing with our new friends 'Off the Grid', finding with them a special bond of massive amounts of time on stage...sarcasm...love... and...awesome songwriting skills. The magic of the evening began with an acoustic set from RW and a rockin' reggae-jam from Off the Grid...as the sun set and the fire pits lit up the evening street, neighbors danced, spun and twirled around the caveman's lamp...tossing our minds back to a more peaceful time of neighbors loving neighbors.
Magic lingering in the starry night, Gypsy Jamey, King of the Cowboy Blues, took to the stage with Off the Grid's Eric, Prince of Dred...sizzling slide work alongside tumbling ska notes and Just-Jeff's popping funk bass made for a grand finale' to rival anyone's top 10 musical experience The 2nd Annual Cedar Street Block Party promises to be the highlight of our musical experience year after year!
THANK YOU LEAVENWORTH!!
Ravinwolf, determined to make good by their honor and word, made a fantastic showing in Issaquah for "Music on the Streets", a weekly outdoor concert series sponsored by the Issaquah Chamber of Commerce. Despite unloading our gear to the rhythm of the downtown rush-hour traffic signals, legally and illegally scampering across the street via the pedestrian crosswalk one speaker at a time (avoiding the rollers in our rear view mirror), circumnavigating the oil tanker who wanted our parking space at the gas station we could see from our street side stage, we set up our humble show in the drizzle of the Western Washington mist and played to city buses, carpoolers and pedestrial passers-by who were rushing around to escape the rain on a Thursday night. Needless to say, we rocked...capturing the the Kodak moment in the musical terrain of hard-core.
Tonight was a night Ellensburg, Wa, can be proud of...raising over $300 for the World Society for the Protection of Animals Hurricane Ike Disaster Relief Project! The community gathered at Lilly's Cantina around 7pm tonight for a showcase line up of local talented musicians...including...the Blackout Bros, soloist Katie Ann, and even an unplugged and rock set from Ravinwolf. Recovery efforts after a Hurricane requires substantial effort to rebuild. Sometimes because of the dire need for human disaster relief, animal relief is another
added burden for the citizens of the affected communities and a relief that can be slow in coming. Ravinwolf has been a member of the WSPA since 2003 and regularly donates a percentage of their CD sales directly to the disaster relief organization.
Katie Ann The Blackout Brothers
performing Jewel's Original Jam
'Save Your Soul'
Sept 11-13, 2008
Thursday...
We were happy to be in the town where Ravinwolf first launched itself at the Brick Tavern, Roslyn, Wa...on the anniversary of the day that changed the fate of Western Civilization...a candle lit show was a moving memorial for Sept 11th this year and we dedicated our time and energy in the form of musical prayers going out to all the families that suffered great loss on that morning in 2001. Love to the nation...
We rocked the Kasbah in Yakima, Wa ...our first time at the Yakima Sports Center... and the walls were crawling with Ravinwolf fans new and old! Much thanks goes out to our sound guy and new friend...optician extraordinaire... DAN! After an awkward meeting between Jamey and Dan in which Jamey proudly states that "a bee stung my ass today"--while reaching to shake Dan's hand in greeting (not knowing that Dan was our BOSS!) and a ...simultaneously very tweaked out and intoxicated cretan was singing at the top of his lungs next to Jamey during said introduction...Dan wondering...oh ...is this RAVINWOLF...we established a very good repoire with the new club, don't ya thnk?!! Once we cleared up the confusion and the cretan was put out of his misery, loaded in with our usual consummate efficientcy and precision and electrified the audience for a good 4 hours. No keyboard casualties this week, despite the rockin' dance floor and mackin' going on all around.
Treestock II marked the end of our productive week...and we were ready for the stage today.
CC... MIA...Rodney, FaeRaven & Jamey plugged on through the sage swept air and gave a show stopping performance on the flat bed that sounded like 6 guitars and 2 drum kits...
Crowd comments were positively flattering...thanks Verne and Mary for a fun time once again! 
To Winthrop we will go...to Winthrop we will go...hi-ho to Jerry-o... to Winthrop we will go...
Escape the Rodeo...escape the rodeo...hi-ho to Jerry -o! To Winthrop we will go...
Rollin' down the road towards Yakivegas in our studded snowtires is bringing us peace on earth during this white Christmas season...tonight we shared the stage with the vocalists from The as they assembled an acapella version of themselves and performed an intermission set during the Ravinwolf show of acapella favs from the 50's and 60's ...FaeRaven took it upon herself to name the group the Blue Tropicapellas...and it just might stick...she got a hearty laugh from the crowd and the band for that one...for once... Ravinwolf performed a jazzy singer-songwriter showcase and feasted on the 5 star gourmet mexican cuisine at the Santiago's venue.
Deer nibbling the grass in our campsite...Canadians nibbling in our cooler...just like summer camp! Playin' the streets of Winthrop would have been the highlight of the weekend had it not been for the elk encounter at midnight after the show or the billions of stars overhead. Sweet echoes of acoustic jam trickling off the Methow River behind us as we left the Old Schoolhouse Brewery Beer Garden tingling with delight ...Cassidy...Bluebird Sky... Stick to yer Guns... feel gut grooves that even the band enjoyed.
Afternoon naps on the grass...Winthrop candy...
Our undying gratitude goes out to the friendly staff of the Old Schoolhouse Brewery for making this weekend a sweet memory for Ravinwolf! See ya next season!
August 16th
Here we are again...dejavu...back in Cle Elum...
Diamondback's Casino...Friday night veritably uneventful, with the full moon risin'...Saturday was a wee bit different. C'mon...
Where you at cry-baby! The word is out...Ravinwolf Rocks! The whole town of Cle Elum came out for Saturday night's show! Complete with the presence of Maestro Garey Williams on the kit, the house was rockin'! All was going well...when an overweight, overserved and overwrought Gin-Wrangler, just slippin' into the dark realities of a major blackout... rushed the stage during a blistering Caveman solo...straight into FaeRaven's 88-key Roland and sent it flying across the stage, through a couple sets of shins and onto the stage floor...like a brick... the bleepin' blappin' blunderin' bloated blob in the late stages of alcohol poisoning just looked at us like deer in the headlights, with a trickle of blood runnin' down his forehead...he wasn't dead so we killed him with kindness...we actually stopped the song, administered first-aid and let the milk flow under the bridge.
The bouncer was nowhere to be seen and yonder-come big fella as soon as we started the next rocker. Jamey spent most of his solos sitting on a monitor between FaeRaven and the drunken sot...scowling and ready to put ancient meaning as to why they call a guitar an axe. Our thanks to Robert Gould for his excellent bouncing expertise and for capturing the digital moment.
August 14th
Ravinwolf made a guest appearance at Lilly's Cantina in Ellensburg, Wa. tonight,
thanks to the hospitality of the Wolfman, hot-licks Cordell and Rockin'-Rodney who are hosting a live music jam Thursday nights at Lilly's. We'll be back in this local venue sooner than ya think! The infamous 'Blackout Brothers' were heard...and seen... blacked out the next morning...all over the parking lot...what a talented bunch! Hang in there ev'ry body...
The dog days of summer have definitely arrived!
August 8th & 9th
The week of August 4th has proved to be a fine week of tested friendship for the ole Ravinwolf Gang. Swilling on the banks of Lake CleElum under a fingernail moon... "the blood of the Cherokee and red eyed whiskey shall not meet"...Fae Raven walking the blistered mile down into Roslyn, enjoying her first Hope Source Bus journey back to where we all came from...we made it safely to our own beds by Wednesday... at least. Minimal harm done, scally-wags!
Friday night we actually made it back to Cle Elum for rehab...I mean the 3rd Anniversary Keg Cellar Party. Wall-to-wall patrons graced our presence, a full buffet and leis greeted us at the door. We gave 'em a full night of groovin' unplugged jams to a full dance floor. Old friends dropped in and new ones showed us some love as well. Wheel-chairs and harmonicas our newest friend...a silver kitty...we mistook for our own one-eyed-kitty (Lil Cloud) who we thought to be a stow-away in the cargo trailer...made a bratty appearance during load-out...playing us for the stray fools we love to be...begging fried rice, crab legs, cheese and chicken wings. She followed Dan James home later that night. We were relieved she still had both eyes.
Saturday, we hit the road for beautiful Twisp, Wa. Alas! How weak the mortal frame! ... the vessal for faded dreams and new flare ups of long lost hope that follow us down the road. In Twisp, the northern Grey timber Wolf had recently made it's presence know on the ridge above the house where we slept. The proprietor of the Club was just ducky and the crowd applauded us after solo's... The band house was something out of a coffee table mag. Very nice. We'll be back afore the snow flies again.
Gathering up the straggling band members...CC retrieved from Antlers Tavern where he uncovered stories of the struggling baby salmon eggs on the Methow being trampled under foot by the fly-fishing-flat-landers...Matt retrieved from the hops vines in the beer garden at the Pub...Rodney...well he cleverly drove himself...FaeRaven retrieved from her photo-shoot...and Jamey retrieved from the wolf den....we motored home to the sounds of Randy California & the band Spirit ripping ...Nature's Way...of receiving you...
August 1st & 2nd
Cle Elum, Cle Elum, Cle Elum...there's no place like home.
Seems we've been playing up and down 1st st for quite some time now...
But, we think the highlight this weekend was the unplugged show at your friendly neighborhood bar Mike's Tavern. Rocking the rafters, leaving them begging for more...we had 'em soft shoe-ing on a dance floor heavily sanded with peanut shells. Special appearances were made by dueling harp players...in Gillespie style, Randy with his understated blues riffs kept Leather Soul's, Mitch, on his rockin' Blues Traveller's toes all night long to some acoustic back porch jams. What a treat.
Saturday nite...we crossed the street and tipped our hat a Diamondback's Casino once more for a full tilt, double percussion concussion where fresh from LA, LaDonna, sat in with FaeRaven for some sizzling Sugaree blues that would have made Jerry Garcia blush...or not. We look forward to having LaDonna join us a little more often as she settles into her Northwest digs on the Seattle scene.
July 25 & 26,2008
Welcome to Selah! Folklife fans popped up at the Selah Mining Co. this weekend. This hardwood venue with the world's nicest staff and tastiest restaurant burger made with real bacon and onion rings gave us the calories needed to make it through a late nite bachelorette showing on the dance floor. By the end of the night the girls were playing the drums and we were sitting the set out...well, almost...cardboard cut-outs be damned! In between nights, we tripped to the licks of Alice Stuart and the Formerly's at Jazz in the Valley in Ellensburg, Wa. A veritable treat.
We were treated so kindly at the Mining Co and to a friendly nite of hard won sweat and music jams we were spent... everyone except for Rodney, who continued playing into load-out once again.
The infamous Pat Moss made a most unexpected and gracious appearance Saturday nite for a full set of Ravinwolf...we gave him the full rock-star Gorge show...we were flattered...to say the least...we haven't seen Jamey since.
Most memorable moment of the weekend...
As usual...
Was after the gig at the gas station...
Once again loading our propane lighters and stocking up on pastrami sandwiches and post-gig beef jerky & good n plenties...putting our last $28 bucks into George W's pocket, gathering all the straggling band members...when...the nozzle of the gas pump behind us jumped right of it's hitch and onto the ground. The lever clicked up 'ready to pump'...we all looked at each other in silence and chalked it up to our brother Billy tagging along with the musical convoy...since we debuted another one of his trusty 'guaranteed to fill the dance floor' covers, America's 'Horse with No Name' tonight...he was right all along.
July 18th...
Shhh....Double bookings be damned...good karma...bad karma...dues to pay...whatever...
We're grateful for the moment to breathe this week...and took to Cooper Lake to clean our ears, vibrations and let the glacial air filter our tears into some new lyrics.
For those of you who have never experienced it...Cooper Lake is the sacred, magical, silent
motorless mecca it's rumored to be. When I die, lay me down on the banks of ole Coop, beneathe
the old cedar bat tree ...sprinkle my ashes in the alpine waters...crystal tears of the mountain...
I'll dry her eyes there for eternity.
Three Queens, Bear's Breast, Big Chief, Mt Daniels, Mount Polly...All beneath a full summer moon.
July 12-13, 2008
YAKIMA FOLKIFE FESTIVAL!!!!
What a great show...
What a great music-lovin' audience...
Thank you Yakima for the warm reception...
The mishaps of Friday nite behind us...we adorned our best Sunday attire and stepped into the Greystone Restaurant for a surreal set as an acoustic trio featuring Professor Bret Smith on mandolin...opening with Robert Johnson's "C'mon to my Kitchen" and John Phillips' "Me & My Uncle", we had the crowd unexpectedly on their feet and shouting for more. Stunning us with their cheers, we froze, not quite knowing what do to next except, of course, play music. With the meter in our heads and the gig gods on our side, we were able to pull off an ethereal version of our usual riff-raff of original music...coming around the horn to an invisible drummer only we could hear in our heads, and changing up our rhythms as Dr Smith chimed in and traded fours with his back beats and high-class runs on the mando rivaling the licks of David Grisholm and Jerry Garcia...cheers followed every solo...so closely...we felt like real jazz musicians...unbelievable and instantaneous feedback so foreign to our road weary bones...a very heartfelt thank you goes out to everyone who was at Greystone for that one. More to come for you Yakivegans.
Sunday afternoon was a scorcher as well, as we pulled out the big guns in plus 100 degree temperatures at Franklin Park, literally and musically, for a short but savory set of our best jam folk rock...sporting songs such as "Call of the Wild", "Last Cowboy" and "Orenda"**...knocking the daytime crowd onto their knees begging for more and sending that orb or musical energy from Folklife right off the stage into the desert sand.* We were lucky enough that afternoon to share the line-up with Star Anna and the Laughing Dogs (www.staranna.com ) who warmed up the stage ahead of us...my (FaeRaven's) personal favorite song "Bed I've Made" made my hair stand on end...nice job guys...AND the Seattle based act and RW myspace pals The Dandelion Greens !(www.thedandeliongreens.com ) With their Dylan meets Prine songwriting style and percussive stand-up bass and banjo rythyms, they wrapped up our weekend with the finest whipped cream and cherry folk blues. We're hoping to join up with these guys in the future for an allstar jam!
...later that evening...
Dr Smith made a brief appearance at RW headquarters to pick up his gear...
8 hours later we were 3 sheets to the wind in the middle of a front yard jam among the petunias goin' round and round the world in Robert Johnson fashion...reviewing his full repertoire of Dead tunes and Pink Floyd jams...what a nite to remember!
*Dr Smith managed to remain cool and collected in his usual fashion during the Franklin Park set.
**Rodney Turner receives the "BEST DRESSED" award for the weekend sporting his authentic African tunic and trousers gifted straight from Nairobi!
July 11, 2008
Sizzling was the nightlife in Naches at the Country Rock Cafe this weekend! High decibal Van Halen pouring into the streets from the club next door as we covered the happy-hippy tunes of the decade before. Once again...RW swept the streets clean in Naches...last seen on the scene about 5 years ago with the Billy Bilyeu Band...it was nice to be back in our old haunt. Bill's spirit was with us tonight as were the citizens of Naches. Pumped up on the eve of the Yakima Folklife Festival we were pleased to warm-up our weekend first out of the gate. In his rarest form...stoked for the weekend line-up, our brother Rodney made his best showing yet...his tongue! What a trooper! Give that man a raise...
We were lucky enough to fill the room with family on Friday night, with Nephew Josh and wife Jennifer...and the guitar player's (Jamey) sisters and aunts and uncles with long lost ghosts of the Cherokee nation in tow. However well we did, the most noteworthy event of the eveing was the bonding that occurred between the bass player and the kit drummer (Chris & Matt). Carpooling together was the best ride they've had yet enduring the full Ravinwolf experience. In the 1978 green goblin Caddy...Cassidy II...they sailed in together down the windy Yakima Canyon without a problem until the evening's 40oz thick ale tall schooners set in during load-out for our youngest member (Matt-inee)...and a couple of post-gig pastrami sandwiches, and the usual entree..beef jerky...most of it ended up in the River on the way home from what we hear. . .
July 5, 2008
A live live groove at a brand new venue for Ravinwolf this weekend in Issaquah at Pogacha! Fine fine food...compassionate crew. The highlight of this trip wasn't the music, however, it was a stray hound dog we call the Tramp. Upon our afternoon arrival to the club, we noticed the Tramp wandering the parking lot as the club owner and bar manager were trying to round up the brown and white mutt . Hungry, begging but scared as the dickens, the poor dog was unapproachable within a few feet. We fed him Spaghetti, New York Steak, Pad Thai, and puddle water late into the night. The dog catcher made a showing, but left quickly when he realized he was unwelcome and not skilled enough to round up the Tramp! Should have pictured that RW mutt. We're hoping he'll make it home after the Fourth of July noise, we tried to load him into the cargo trailer (Moby Dick) with the rest of the black boxes but he politely declined.
...meanwhile...
the music we laid down a Pogacha was a tasty change for this best kept secret live music venue in Issaquah, usually reserved for fine live jazz & blues. Ravinwolf's genre of jazz was bluesy and very well received , a refreshing change according to the local clientele...befriending a Cabo contact ...new myspace friends...magazine editors...album reviewers... and our buddy the Tramp...we left with no regrets! We'll be returing for more great folk jams in October!
...later that evening...
...bug eyed bartenders...and stray dog behind us...we made it to the corner to fill up our propane lighters and the gas tank with George W's high octane fuel where we hid in the bushes until the coast was clear to hightail it home...all the way...Rodney talked himself to sleep...CC ate his Reeses PB cups and somehow...when we finally reached our destination all was well except for the chocolate streak on Rodney's shorts and our new van seats...hazing among players welcome, I suppose.
July 4th, 2008
Hope for the nation this year in the form of peace and love...
Hope for Ravinwolf in the form of our new Rhythm Devils...
As promised ...our July 3rd, Thursday nite comeback at the Brick Tavern was a show stopper!
What a warm welcome we received by a new generation of mountain girls and rasta board boys!
It was nice to play for all those mountain twirlers again into the wee morning hours. The house was rockin'...Matt held down the fort for brother Rodney during a sizzling version of Caveman brought to life by his cave rattling timbales...woodpecking tree clickers...and far-out forest sounds. After the show we witnessed a RW-load out drum circle...I think Rodney was just getting warmed up. Wood chips flyin' down highway 10 as we hightailed it out of town! Excellent showing.
Ravinwolf had a blast sharing the line-up with a new Washington State talent "Another Fifth" at
Cle Elum's outdoor 4th of July Street Fair...Pioneer Days! Another Fifth features a brassy bayou sound wrapped around bluesy jams and 'deadish' rhythms. They're an act to keep a close eye on in the coming year. Fresh, souful, fun and funny original jam rock. Check 'em out at www.myspace.com/anotherfifth ...
June 29th...yeah, the whole spineless month!
We are happy to report there were no fatal complications with the band this month except for the fact that we lost a sound board, dropped a JBL and forgot the cymbals a time or two. Thanks to the hospitality of Cle Elum, Snoqualmie and Leavenworth, Wa, we made it through the Spring relatively unscathed.
On June 14th, we arrived at the Snoqualmie Brewery & Taproom in style aboard the new Ravinwolf Gig Rig …”El Blanco”… our new 8 passenger van ....Dr. Smith and Rodney got a first class nap on the way to the gig...
Warmly received by the burg of Snoqualmie, Wa…a premier for the 5-piece version of Ravinwolf Unplugged, we left some jams behind that would have made Jerry blush. Dr. Smith on mandolin was outstanding while chasing Jamey around by the half-step, climbing to acoustic heights that rival the avant garde of jazz while maintaining a rhythmic battle with FaeRaven…AND simultaneously staying away from most of the orange food available (except for the Chili Fritos road snack on the ride home).. Later, in the evening…Jamey’s classmate, James Russell Bender showed up to celebrate his mother’s 80th birthday…it all went off without a hitch…even the 80 candles didn’t smoke us out of the juke joint.
50 mph over the pass don’t stop us as we headed back to Diamondback’s Casino for a rockin’ 2 night stand with our brand new band member Matt Reiger…WELCOME MATT! Exactly. This new talent comes straight to us all the way from Arlington, Wa. We retrieved him from Wolf Haven ourselves and Rodney flew him in to take on the drum kit. Thursday, July 3rd , you can witness the two of them having it out on stage with us at the Brick Tavern at 8pm sharp…our very own rhythm devils. Rodney say, “Y’all better make your reservations now for that percussion concussion!” 
June 28, 2008
Last nite must’ve taked the cake for the month of June as we wrapped up the live line-up in Leavenworth, Wa, at the Munchen Haus…an outdoor beer garden at the doorway to the Alpine Lakes Wilderness. Brats and beers and cheers left us spent, wrung and happy in the first summer heat. We hear it was a nice change from the usual polka jams that come and go. Except for the borrowed cymbals…I’m pretty sure we left a sparkling impression for next season. LA’s Hell Cat Records made an appearance at the show along with George Clinton…can you believe it! Shouldn’t a miss that one.
You never quite know what you’re gonna get…
But it’s always tasty with Ravinwolf…
‘til next time…Sayonara …and don’t be strangers!
May 24, 2008 - Yeah, the whole spineless month.
Welp, this guitar slingin' life is a dirty business, but we wash our hands most times before we eat. Tail's waggin' the dog, this bein' Satra-day and all. We're the proud parents of a double-banger yesterday...Seattle/NW Folklife...(big stage...big fun...cool show...saw old friends...reminders of old medical tents...dead shows)...AND...DJ's Lounge/the Starlite Resort...(where they never cease to amaze us with their neanderthal meets yetti approach to drinking)...see ya tonight ya spineless-bastards...hope you got some sleep!
To the well-meaning food stand that fed our Phd of music, Dr Smith(Cello/mandolin/guitar)...a glow-in-the-dark tofu dog...yesterday at NW Folklife, (was that tumeric?)...anyway, many happy returns. ..gotta party 'til ya puke I guess...
We're still lookin' for the spineless sneaky snakes that stole our banner. We wish 'em no harm, but sure don't wish them well. You can still bring it back...'it'd shore up your karma a little bit.
We've taken a couple body punches this week and are deep into a tough tug-o-war between the yin and the yang. Road life...what ya gonna do... Lost a JBL Main Speaker to gravity (roadie mishap), and a big stage wedge monitor ...do to bad horrible icky-poo messy baby sound engineering...(Jamey said, "My bad").
So just an update: We got 'em right where they want us...the garden's a growin'...so is the price of gas...so we're growin' our own fuel...how 'bout you? Have you been sittin spineless? You better get up and check out our schedule and get out to see us soon...we miss ya!
Much love to y'all,
The Band
May 19,2008
Friday and Saturday...lemme see...'Call of the Wild' and 'Foolish Girl' are getting some stage time. Oh, yeah, we had Garey laughing so hard on stage behind the drums, that he couldn't play until composure was regained (from Jamey's subliminal political asides on the microphone)... it was good to see our old friend Dr. Zentner, the bad-ass guitar player himself and a genious of geology.
Chris (Bass) and Garey(Drums) get the spineless-sneaky-snake award for the weekend for sitting out the entire 4th set...arranging cardboard cut-outs or actual human being stand-ins we're not sure to fill their spaces on stage...spineless-sneaky-snakes.
Besides the flying teeth, the mud, the blood and the beer, the ambulances and the cops...it was a pretty good 2 nite stand at the Casino!
Batten down the hatches Cle Elum, we're comin' back in June and we mean business this time! We'll see all you punkin' rollin' brush poppers there!
Sunday saw us travelling early over Blewett Pass to frantically get there and play hurry up and wait. Seconds late. Twist of fate? Questions on starting time were involved. It's all good...it was a 14 hour day...A hearty handshake to y'all at Uncle Uli's, thanks for your kindness, we'll see ya again soon enough...you guys sure know how to boogie and ya know Robert Hunter lyrics better than we do.
Spineless sneaky snake award for Sunday's gig, goes to...envelope please...yes!!!! Mr Chris (Bass) who managed to conjure up a wax figure replica of himself that he had somehow programmed on break, to finish the 4th set! Hats off to ya dude...you're a frickin' force of nature. Chris II, we're just kiddin'...it was nice meeting you and you were rockin'! Probably see ya soon enough.
Runner-up was FaeRaven, who stole Jamey's subliminal funny guy idea from the night before and managed to insert references to said political asides mentioned above during an actual flippin' song. Jamey's okay, but he really did fall off his acoustic stool in fits of hysterical, untreatable and uncontrollable laughter, he was gone for about a verse and a half...we're still kind of waiting for his full return (Jamey says,"...paybacks...").
Even though we fed Rodney(Congas-Percussion) pretty good... he ate 2 whole plates of ribs and took some dinner home too... we worked too him hard we think... we played 7 sets for godsakes...we had one of the cardboard cut outs or was it a wax figure(?) ...drive him home. We talked to him this morning and he says doesn't remember who we are?...cool...clean slate...just kiddin', my brother from another mother...
Batten down the hatches Leavenworth, we're comin' back in June and we mean business this time! We'll see all you punkin' rollin' brush poppers there!
December 24, 2007
When I think of all the hours we've put into the new CD (Buttons and Freedom), and all of the little accomplishments along the way that were milestones, during the past 10 months, we are overwhelmed by the grace of time and spirit at how far we've come. I can't think of a single change I'd make to the recording. It is all that we've envisioned from day one when the song, just an embryo itself, was written years ago. Our personal undying gratitude goes out to the band mates who put their life force into these songs, the neighbors who believed in us, and the fans who long for more. We have it for you. - FaeRaven
December 2, 2007
We were quite pleased at the turn-out for Toys for Tots this year! All of the contributing bands and attendees were excellent and consummate professionals in their deliveries of a blazing tribute to rock 'n roll. We'd like to personally thank Mike Klampher for inviting us all to play at the festivities and to each and to every musician that donated time and energy to the event: Movin' Mountains, The Embers, Star Anna & the Laughing Dogs, Rhythm Junction, and S.D.I. ...it was a pleasure running sound for you all! - Jamey
November 30, 2007
You guys, late night...listening and I'm totally digging what you guys did with the vocals and cello. That's what it's all about, the "eagles fly" and the reverb and how it all works with vocals, well
done! Allen did nice things there. I'll keep playing some fine notes for y'all Cello and Mandolin, I definitely want to chime in musically. Stoke the groove with some red hot notes. Jamey wasn't Take Me Away an old one I would have known from the old days? Sounds so familiar, either I learned it or you psychically channeled it into my brain stem later.. you old dog, wouldn't put it past you....ha ha... Heather you sound Frigging LOUD AND PROUD in the voice, wow. Following Jamey's lines with nuance, wow, wow, that's killer just like the greats! And the whole lead vocal female with "balls"
jeez you guys you're onto something great (as if you didn't know, I'm just really getting it now, needed to let you know!) - Bret