This article appears in the New York Times today:


"Myspace Cuts Workforce by 30 Percent



The first thing I thought when I read this was: 

Myspace has a staff?  It doesn't seem like there's more than one person running this thing, and it seems like that one person has more important things to deal with most of the time, like finishing the rest of his bong hit or checking under the sofa for leftover pizza.  Well, okay then, myspace has a staff.  Then why is it still so buggy and ugly?  Why has it been over-run by spam?  Why do I always have to type Captchas just to send a message to my friend?

It would be nice if the government would step in to this muddled online social networking situation and just find a way to merge all the users and best features of myspace, facebook and twitter, and give us something that everyone is a part of, something that can properly play music and report tour dates, something that can keep everyone in touch and not be bogged down by dancing aliens trying to offer better car insurance.

Oh well.  Until that time, I am now consolidating my tour diary posts to just be in one place, at www.localcut.com.  Here is a link to my direct page:

http://blogs.wweek.com/music/author/nick-jaina/


Also, I will be writing posts more regularly.  And not just tour diaries, but other stuff too.  They should be going up every Thursday. 

Thank you for reading, thank you for listening.  I hope we can all get through this strange time together.

Hello,

The new Nick Jaina album is completely done and being pressed. It is called "A Narrow Way" and it will be released this fall on compact disc by HUSH Records and on 180-gram vinyl by Jealous Butcher. (HUSH Records has released such great artists as The Decemberists, Laura Gibson and Loch Lomond. Jealous Butcher has put out vinyl for M Ward, Laura Veirs and The Decemberists.)

Here is the full tracklisting for the album:

1. A Narrow Way
2. Walking Into A Burning House
3. That's The Kind of Fruit That You Leave On The Vine
4. Battleground
5. Eleanor
6. Winding Sheet
7. I Forget My Name
8. That Tired Tired Lie
9. Singing The Devil's Tune
10. Planters Field
11. I Know I'm Your Man

It will be available in stores and online on October 14th, but we will also have it for sale on our national tour, which begins on September 10th in Boise and which will take us around the country in a clockwise motion for 25 shows in 40 days.

This album was recorded at Type Foundry Studios in Portland completely live. The size of the band ranged from seven to ten pieces and every part-- including vocals-- was done at the same time and then mixed live to two-track tape by Adam Selzer. If we needed a hand clap or a tambourine hit, we had to bring in an extra person to do it, instead of just over-dubbing it. Why did we do this? We felt that it would create a sense of urgency in the recordings, as modern recording has diminished the importance of actually performing in the moment. We tried to remove all safety nets and technological helpers and just allow the band to play together in a room like musicians used to do until the Beatles started taking drugs in '65 and giving everyone a different idea of how people should make albums. Bands want to play music together in a room at the same time. It's their natural habitat. It makes them happy. Like wildebeests in the Serengeti.

So, you might ask... Did it work?

I think so. I hope so. God, I hope so.

Three songs from the album are available right now for your listening enjoyment at www.myspace.com/nickjaina.


Best,

Nick

Hello,

There have been a few interesting things in the press lately that I wanted to share with you.

First, the really neat website Daytrotter has a feature up on me today. We recorded four songs in the studio with them while on tour and they've posted those with some nice words and a colorful drawing of me.

Daytrotter Session


Last week, NPR Music did a profile for the song "Bicycle" on their Second Stage web area.

NPR Piece


And last month, the Willamette Week here in Portland named me the Number 6 Best New Band of 2008, based on polling of local music-industry peers.

Best New Band

We leave tomorrow for our very long two-month tour around the country. If you live in any of these cities, or know anyone who does, or are within an hour or so, please try to see us. It will be a four-piece for most of the tour, we'll be supporting the new release Wool and trying to play as many songs off of that as we realistically can, and we will be looking for friendly faces.

Please look over this list and see if any of it strikes a chord. Maybe you can recommend a good coffee shop or something. Also, we're still adding some shows, as you can see.


28 Feb 2008 9:00 P
River City Saloon w/ Pancake Breakfast Hood River, Oregon
29 Feb 2008 8:00 P
321 Art Space Kennewick, Washington
1 Mar 2008 9:00 P
Empyrean w/ Kalyee Cole and Karli Fairbanks Spokane, Washington
3 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Pendleton Center for the Arts w/ Musee Mecanique Pendleton, Oregon
4 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Pengilly's Saloon Boise, Idaho
5 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Kilby Court Salt Lake City, Utah
6 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Hi-Dive Denver, Colorado
7 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Laughing Goat Boulder, Colorado
8 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Edesia's Manhattan, Kansas
10 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Fish Haus WIchita, Kansas
11 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Sauced Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
12 Mar 2008 9:00 P
Replay Lounge Lawrence, Kansas
13 Mar 2008 8:00 P
The Brick Kansas City, Missouri
14 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Station 4 St. Paul, Minnesota
15 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Acadia Cafe Minneapolis, Minnesota
16 Mar 2008 9:00 P
Subterranean w/ Mira Mira Chicago, Illinois
17 Mar 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
18 Mar 2008 8:00 P
The Fire Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
19 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Pete's Candy Store Brooklyn, New York
20 Mar 2008 7:00 P
Knitting Factory New York, New York
21 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Monkey House Winooski, Vermont
22 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Small World Coffee Princeton, New Jersey
23 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Lily Pad Boston, Massachusetts
26 Mar 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) between Philly and Chicago, Illinois
27 Mar 2008 2:00 P
Daytrotter Session Rock Island, Illinois
27 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Schuba's Chicago, Illinois
30 Mar 2008 10:00 P
One-Eyed Jack's New Orleans, Louisiana
31 Mar 2008 8:00 P
Super Happy Fun Land Houston, Texas
1 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Annie Street Arts Collective Austin, Texas
2 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Hole in the Wall Austin, Texas
3 Apr 2008 8:00 P
TBA Marfa, Texas
4 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Q8 El Paso, Texas
5 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Atomic Cantina Albuquerque, New Mexico
9 Apr 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) Flagstaff, Arizona
10 Apr 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) Tucson, Arizona
11 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Yucca Tap Room Phoenix, Arizona
12 Apr 2008 7:00 P
Mojo Mountain Festival Jerome, Arizona
12 Apr 2008 8:00 P
The Raven Prescott, Arizona
13 Apr 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) San Diego, California
14 Apr 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) Los Angeles, California
15 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Bordello Los Angeles, California
16 Apr 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) Somewhere, California
17 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Cafe Coda w/ Norfolk & Western and Weinland Chico, California
18 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Cafe Deva Modesto, California
19 Apr 2008 8:00 P
The Partisan Merced, California
22 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Ace in the Hole Cider Pub Sebastapol, California
23 Apr 2008 8:00 P
(looking...) Santa Cruz, California
24 Apr 2008 9:00 P
Amnesia San Francisco, California
25 Apr 2008 10:00 P
Sophias Davis, California
26 Apr 2008 8:00 P
Cozmic Cafe Placerville, California

You can now order the new album WOOL online at the new Hush Records website:

www.hushrecords.com



You can listen to our in-studio performance for OPB radio, featuring 4 songs (two of which are unreleased) and an extensive interview here:

opb.org)

I'm playing a show tonight at the Doug Fir with my friend Myshkin. I met her seven years ago in New Orleans when she was trying to sell her old school bus. It hadn't run in months and was parked in the yard. I had already heard her music and was a big fan, so I almost considered buying it for just that reason. That's ultimately not a good enough reason to buy a car. I decided against it.

She used to play a weekly gig at the Spotted Cat on Frenchman Street with Scott Magee on drums. It was a small place, and they played in the front corner. Scott used to cock his head to the left and look out the window on to the street. During Mardi Gras, when I was down there to paint faces, she let me stay at her house. She had a big double shotgun tucked under the levee.

After Mardi Gras that year, me and the missus got our own house, a shotgun on Gallier Street. For the month of April I wrote a song every day. That's not a boast, just a description of the city. The air is thicker down there, and you can just pick songs out of the air. Everybody is speaking in poems and you just have to have a pen and a napkin handy to write them down. Of course, it's no paradise. Because of the swamp-like environment, the bugs down there are gigantic. You have to step out of their way if they're crossing in front of you. Bugs everywhere, a whole city of them, half of the species seemingly undocumented. "Does that thing really exist? On this planet? Really?" Walking at night in New Orleans is like walking in a darkened theater, with all the popcorn crunching under your feet. Except, it's not popcorn.

Anyway, I moved to Portland and then she moved to Portland. Scott now plays drums with me and, if there's a window to his left he'll probably be looking out of it. I'm the kind of obvious dork who puts an "I Love New Orleans" sticker on my guitar. Myshkin doesn't bring it up much. It was an important place to both of us. You should come see us play tonight.

Tonight, Wednesday January 17th

Myshkin's Ruby Warblers
Nick Jaina
Lara Michell

@ Doug Fir Lounge
9pm
$5




--
Nick Jaina

www.myspace.com/nickjaina

I've recently done two podcasts, one with NPR's All Songs Considered, and one with Portland's daily paper, The Oregonian.

NPR:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6656180

The Oregonian:

http://www.blogs.oregonlive.com/oregonian/aenow/multimedia/default.asp?item=305981#attachments

You can get to Canada from Portland by train. And when I say train, I mean bus. You can get to SEATTLE by train, and then they make you get off the train and get on a bus for the rest of the way. "Oh, the tracks must end here," you think to yourself, "American ingenuity and all that stops at the border." And then, while riding the bus north of Seattle through Bellingham, you see TRAINS on TRACKS going NORTH. So why weren't you allowed on those trains? And then you pull up to the Canadian border and the bus stops and everyone has to get off the bus with all their belongings and go into a little room and line up and answer questions about their intentions and their fruit and how exactly did they manage to get FRIENDS in CANADA? And the inspectors tear apart every seam of the bus, looking for some plastic explosives or some rare bug that would decimate the Canadian eco-system. WE KNOW IT'S IN HERE SOMEWHERE! And you think to yourself, "Aren't WE the ones with the strict security because we're the targets for violence? Why would some bad guy enter the U.S. in order to go up to Canada and blow things up?" Oh, the indignity of taking a simple six-hour trip that turns into nine hours because of FEARS and INSINUATIONS and POSSIBILITIES for DESTRUCTION.

So, you see, the train to Canada is not a train trip in the sense that the train to your Grandma Molly's house is a train trip. It's a train TRIAL, a train IMPOSITION... And you arrive in your train-bus at the Vancouver bus station, and you see that it is in fact not just a bus station, but a TRAIN STATION, full of TRAINS running on TRAIN TRACKS. And you think, "Why couldn't I continue on my train? Why did I have to switch to a bus?" And happy sunny people get off their gleaming silver train in their summer hats and flowing white cotton shirts and dresses, all smiling, having eaten focaccia bread sandwiches till they were full, laughing and laughing in the dining car, cigarettes shared with strangers. And you crawl out of your dark bus, your neck bent like a pipe from under a sink, your heart hardened and calloused by the things that you had to go through.

And that is what bus travel is all about and it is GREAT and it is why I am the person I am today. Just to clarify.

Canada is a country not unlike the United States. When you get into the train/bus station, you walk past McDonald's and Buger King. You try to squint to make it seem more foreign. "Ah, they're still part of the British Empire. That's why they have a Burger KING. And the Dairy Queen, of course. And the McDonald's looks so sleek and European." But the difference is not in the business establishments. The mood of the people is like what you would find in any small town. Yet it extends all over the country. People in Vancouver talk about people in Toronto like they're just down the street. And they look at you, Mr. American, as a violent killer.

"Don't shoot me!" they say, laughing.

"I don't want to shoot you," you say.

"You don't have to WANT to shoot someone to actually end up shooting them. It's in your blood, it's how you were raised, it's how you know how to express your love. Like in Brokeback Mountain when those guys want to say how much they're going to miss each other and they just end up punching each other in the face."

"But I don't even own a gun, so how could I express myself that way?" you say.

"Well, you call yourself a writer and you didn't even have a pen with you at the border when you had to fill out a customs card. Just because you don't have the tools for expression on you, that doesn't mean that you don't WANT or NEED to express things through those means."

"Okay," you say, "But can I just buy a newspaper?"

Even the convenience-store clerks have philosophy degrees in Canada.

Is time travel possible?

Well, no. You're thinking of time as a river. Time is not a river. Time is a concept. It doesn't really exist. There is no chance that you could slip into an eddy or somehow catch on a current that takes you back to the Fifties. The Fifties don't exist anymore. You can't just go back there and start hanging out. The people from that time have grown older. Some of them have died. The stuff that was around then is now older too, some of it broken, some of it lost. Things move on, but not because of time sweeping us along like a janitor cleaning up after a gala. Is that what you were thinking? That time is like a janitor sweeping us up after a gala? That we're just little kids sitting on the floor, hiding under the table after the adults had their big party, hoping nobody will find us, until ol' janitor Time comes along, peeks under the tablecloth and says, 'Alright then, lets go.'? No, we have to push through time. It's not helping us at all. And there's nothing to go back to.

It makes for a good story, sure. I'll give you that. It gives you hope. I'm not trying to crush that. But you're going to have your hope crushed anyway. 'If I could only go back in time and fix the things that I did wrong.' 'If I could only go back in time, way back to a time where they'd understand me, where I'd finally belong'. Is that what you're saying to yourself? There's no dial to turn that sets you back to a date. What are dates anyway? Wha's a date going to mean to the universe? It's just us keeping track of the amount of times the Earth turns around, and the amount of times it goes around the sun.

I'm not afraid of death. You can't be afraid of it. I know that it's easy to be afraid of things you don't understand. I was afraid of New York until I went there. I took a bus from California and just stepped out into it. In my dreams I thought of New York as being on fire. A city on fire, with buildings at all angles, like crooked teeth. Everything impossible. But it's just a city. A fucking enormous city.

Do you believe in the heart as one large beating thing, synched in time with someone else's? (I'm speaking of the metaphorical heart, which lies just on top of the biological heart and shares several of its qualities.) Or do you believe in a heart that cleaves-- that divides itself when... I don't want to say when it's been broken because that's a pop song and a lie... that divides itself when it is threatened with pain, so as to stay alive. And after the first time that happens, there's the heart that lives and the heart that's strangled, and they're linked. They're not equal size, necessarily. But they beat for different reasons and at different tempos. So that it's possible to look into someone's eyes and say, 'I love you with every ventricle of my heart' and really mean it and yet be fully aware that there is a dead but still-beating part of your heart that beats for someone else... for something else. Would you think I was crazy to say I believed in that, but I don't believe in time travel? I mean, wouldn't we have seen someone come back from the future by now?

Unless... imagine human civilization lives on for a very long time. I mean, longer than the terms of a few presidents. Millions and millions of years longer. Imagine the human race lives longer than the dinosaurs lived. It seems unlikely now, but let's be optimistic here. In that case, our current period of time (currently 2006, early summer) would be just a brief little spot on the necktie of time. And who's to say why anyone would want to come back to this period in time? It would be like living in a small town in Nevada and waiting for the President to come knock on your door, and thinking that the fact that he hasn't done so proves that there is in fact no such thing as a President.