A few things:

1. Amidst the pedal-pushing majesty that was last night's show at downtown Kalamazoo's newly opened Dino's Rock Room, I witnessed greatness, and my dwindling faith in music has once again been restored. The Antiques (absolutely stellar shoegaze from D.C., a place I had until now thought - with all due respect to Ryan Nelson, whose Soccer Team record I love dearly - only bred tin-eared Fugazi-wannabes), We Are Hex (hard to pin down in regards to their sound, which is a wonderful thing to be able to say in this day and age of Hollywood remakes - let's just say they had a lot of pedals and synths, they laid down some fierce grooves, and they made my jaded old ass want to dance, no mean feat), and The Glowfriends (still Kalamazoo's finest and most underrated band; seriously, they're getting so good I'm almost ready to quit music, sell all my gear, and follow them around fulltime Grateful Dead "Deadhead" style - a "Glowhead?" Okay, maybe not) put on a better show than this backwards-looking town deserves. Fuck you if you weren't there (the aforementioned Ryan Nelson is absolved as he's done his time in the trenches, and if he wants to spend a perfectly good Friday night sitting at home watching episodes of "I Love Lucy" on his laptop computer, well, I think he's earned the right).

2. Speaking of Glowfriends, I'm taking guitar lessons with Jeremy Morris, who is one of the few honest to God geniuses I've ever personally met. Do yourself a favor and buy one of his records at www.jamrecordings.com.

3. And speaking of Jam Records, I would be remiss in my duties as a shameless self-promoter if I failed to mention the "Just Like A Daydream" shoegaze comp that is now available there. It is a collection of the finest contemporary bands in the genre (including some of my personal favorites, Brief Candles, Secret Shine, and Brother Kite!) hand-picked by the lovely Miss April Morris. I think Tonevendor will be carrying it as well. Email me or April for more info.

4. At the risk of making a sweeping generalization/judgment, I think I got this myspace place pegged. It's like high school v 2.0. All the people who couldn't get enough of cliques and the dogged pursuit of their idiot peers' approval can now continue their shallow, empty existences here in the anonymous wastelands of cyberspace. In other words, all the people I couldn't stand. I don't know about you, but I was the creepy kid in high school who ate his lunch alone at a table in the furthest corner of the cafeteria and you know what? I liked it that way. Ich bein ein auslander, bitches... and still proud of it.

5. To all my fellow guitar gear nerds: Roger Mayer Spitfire - look into it. I puchased this pedal recently, and I swear Mayer has ruined me. I'll never be able to use a shitty, mass-produced distortion pedal (hello, Boss!) again. For that matter, I'll never be able to use an overpriced, overrated "boutique" (you know who you are, charlatans) distortion pedal again.

6. Lastly, to the three of you who care: new songs on the way. Promise. Look for a 3-song mini CDR ep coming in February with artwork by the previously-aforementioned Ryan Nelson.

rock,

Joshua

Kalamashoegaze was amazing, every band was fantastic, we loved talking to everyone, we loved playing to everyone who stuck around for us.  Thank you April for all the hard work you put into this show, it was appreciated by all.  Next year, we'll be back.

Okay, so I thought I could leave after this show.  Obviously, I'm an idiot.  The music continues to move me.  The band now looks like this

Josh: Guitar 1, Vocals

Matt: Guitar 2

Chris: Guitar 3

Adam: Drums

Live shows will be very very limited.  The album is what matters right now.

_matt_

What has become my favorite day of the year approaches ever closer.  Kalamashoegaze Festival 2.0, Aug 23rd, Saturday.  Ten dollars gets you a full day of bad ass musicianship.  How can you not love it?  Get on that.

Alas, it's time to announce the sad news.  This will be my last live show with Crash City Saints.  3 years running, good times, bad times, yada yada.  I had a blast, played with some amazing acts, had a ball, no matter how much it cost in the end.  Since I'm 2 hours away, jobless, and in legal trouble, my time must come to an end in a live capacity.  Maybe you'll hear my lead guitar cut through a bad ass verse passage at some point, but I cannot continue on as a regular part of this sound.  I will miss this band more than anything else in this world.

_matt_

Chris and myself are blessed/cursed with an exorbitant amount of free time right now.  So what do we do when we get exceptionally, or even slightly bored?  We make music.  Today marked the first Chuck Nelson / CTHG collaboration, titled "Dreaming Of Byzantine Cities".

Matt: Guitar loop, lead 1
Chris: Loop processing, lead 2

Download: http://www.mediafire.com/?owphdh2xurg

Those of you familiar with our solo work (maybe a couple of you) will instantly recognize both of our respective styles.

Chuck Nelson (Chris): www.myspace.com/chucknelsonsperpetualexplosion

Crawling Through Her Ghosts (Matt): www.myspace.com/crawlingthroughherghosts

Gaze 'n roll,

_matt_

So the legal system has beaten the working man once again.  For those of you that know me, I ran into some legal issues around April, and unfortunately my request to leave the state on work permit was denied in court this morning.  I'm extremely fucking pissed off beyond all reason and sensibility, and I'm sincerely sorry to anyone who was planning to come see us at the Darkroom.  We were all very excited for this show, and this opportunity has been unjustly taken from us.  The curse of Crash City prevails, and now the law is involved.

_matt_

Despite arriving on the heels of a week-long bout with the flu, Sonic Lullaby was a lot of fun. Sunlight Ascending kicked ass, and this is coming from somebody who could take or leave most post-rock/instrumental acts; keep an eye on these kids, they're on to something. Indian Guides and Auburn Lull did pedal pushers of the world proud and kept the spirit of '91 alive with fantastic sets of their own (apologies for missing Sey Lui, but I was still pretty sick that night). HUGE props must be given to April Morris (Glowfriends) who was good enough to lend us her formidable tamborine skills to our set in addition to a very cool improvisational vocal jam on our closing song. Elizabeth Fraser eat yer heart out.

Now it's time to dig in and put our proverbial axes to the grindstone for The Crash City Saints first ever full-length album release. We're shooting for late summer, and if all goes well (ha, probably just jinxed us right there!), we should have it ready in time for Kalamashoegazer Festival 2.0 at the end of August this year. Stay tuned, things will be getting very interesting from here on out.

Joshua