Thanks for all your responses to "Pretty Little Lights of Town"! That was so cool, we're posting another live recording from the CD release party.

This one's for you JILL OLSON fans out there, and I know there are plenty of you! It's Jill singing "I'm Not the Girl for You", the first time it was ever performed live.

Guest pedal steel player: Max Butler

Hope you enjoy it, and thanks!

Howdy friends:

We posted a new song today for your enjoyment. It's "Pretty Little Lights of Town", recorded live at our CD release party in 2007. Hope you dig it.

Guests on this recording are:

M. Dung -- announcer
Dave Alvin -- baritone guitar
Max Butler -- pedal steel

As Dung himself would say, "Big FUN, eye!"

O

Hey guys!

Red Meat has an action-packed weekend in both Northern and Southern Californias.
We would dearly love to see you at one of these extravaganzas!

The blue and white Meat wagon will be pulling into the following venues on the following dates:

FRIDAY, AUG. 29: San Francisco, The Knockout. 3223 Mission St. 10 pm. Opening this show will be our new Sacramento pals, Rowdy Kate. It's their first SF gig, come on by and check 'em out! We'll play two sets after.


SATURDAY, AUG. 30: Pioneertown, Pappy & Harriets. This is our favorite desert watering hole, with fantastic food to boot. A great place in a beautiful location. Two sets starting at 7:30.
Dinner, dancing and a show!

SUNDAY, AUG. 31: Culver City, The Cinema Bar. 3967 Sepulveda. Our favorite Los Angeles venue, and the site of our upcoming live album. We play all night, starting at 9:30.


MONDAY, SEP. 1 (LABOR DAY): Hollywood, Safari Sam's. 5214 W. Sunset. Part of the Dog & Pony Show, put on by Dave Alvin to raise funds for musicians in need of medical assistance. Some fine musicians are being helped this year, including Drac Conley, Candye Kane, and the family of Chris Gaffney. It's a 3-day event with a ton of great, great bands. On Monday, besides Red Meat, it'll be the Blasters, Big Sandy, Mike Stinson, Levi Dexter, and more. Plus there's BBQ and a silent auction.
Our set is at 3:45!


We'll see you on the road, peoples.

Sorry everybody, but due to a family emergency, the July 11 date at Ireland's 32 will have to be rescheduled. We'll keep you posted on a new date. In the meantime, if you're in the Bay Area, be sure to make the drive up to Winters to see Red Meat with Dave Gonzales of the Hacienda Brothers, and his all-star band. That's on August 9, and it's a big tribute to a good man, Chris Gaffney, who left us this year way too soon.

Otherwise, currently, our next gig in San Francisco will be on August 29, at the Knockout, with Sacramento's own Rowdy Kate opening the festivities.

We'll see you out there!

Red Meat's pictures from Europe are online! Go to http://picasaweb.google.com/RedMeatBand/RedMeatEuropeanTour2008

and have a gander. Thanks again to Surfing Airlines booking agency for a great tour.

Red Meat has been voted the best country band by the readers of the East Bay Express! Thanks, guys!

http://www.eastbayexpress.com/bestof/best_country_band/BestOfAward?oid=776858

Last night we played a BIG Belgian line dancing club party, in a town called Borgloon. The hall was decked out in a psuedo-Western style that can best be described as Euro Lonesome Dove Biker Rally--US flags with Chief Joseph and a wolf superimposed across the front, a regulation Confederate stars-and-bars, another American flag with an eagle bursting through the stripes. Playing fast and loose with American flag design is accepted at European music events. Last year when we played a country festival in France, we delighted in a Confederate flag that featured a leaping bass across the banner's middle, and in Memphis I have seen the Great Britain Elvis Fan Club wave a stars and bars that features Elvis' face in the center.

Bob's Country Band opened the show, a pleasant quintet of Belgian gents who rocked such tunes as If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold it Against Me, Margaritaville, Bad Moon Rising and Jailhouse Rock. When they launched into Hey Baby Que Paso, I wished our lil pal JMO back in Oakland could have been with us--I think Bob's combo would be his idea of a dream band. Maybe he can hire them for his wedding. It never hurts to plan!

We worried that the dancers would not like our original tunes, but our fears were unfounded. As soon as we launched into a two step beat, the dancers hit their marks and away we all went, happy to be be playing and swaying. The Belgians don't give a lot away, and there was no wild abandon on the floor. I saw one young girl scoot and slide along, grim-faced and determined, never missing a step. At one point she absent-mindedly slapped her own butt, mimicking a move she saw in a video, maybe? It was the wildest thing I saw all night. Everyone drank beer but no one got sloshed, everyone danced but no one freaked on the dance floor, we were thanked sincerely but no one got kissed. Belgium is Iowa!

Hey gangstas.

Well, here we are in our guest house. We're looking out the window, listening to Elvis, drinking coffee and cooking eggs. Elvis sure can sing the hell out of Moody Blue.

We're about halfway through our tour of Belgium and Holland, and we've had an amazing time. Gert (the booker for these shows) drives us from show to show in his batvan, and we've rented a little Peugeot hatchback as a chase vehicle. Thank god Gert lets me use his GPS, or we'd still be driving around Brussels in circles right now.

Last night's show was in Schaarbeek, a district of Brussels, at an old community hall called De Kriekelaar. And lo, the people did come and admire! Red Meat was in great form, the crowd was raucous, and there were a bunch of encores. They fed us up the street at a pub before the show -- real Belgian food! Endives, wrapped in ham, with mashed potatoes and this cheese sauce. Amazing stuff, though Smelley couldn't finish his second endive. He has such a delicate constitution, our Smelley.

Jill already told you about Antwerp; we have a couple days off coming up, and a few of us are going to head to Antwerp and do some exploring. If you want us to buy you anything while we're there, let us know.

On our previous days off, Smelley and Les made the trek up to Amsterdam, and hit the town just as the Dutch soccer team was knocking off the Italians in the World Cup. Les watched the game in a rowdy bar, and Smelley viewed it within the much more mellow confines of an Amsterdam establishment referred to as a "coffee shop".

In the meantime, Jill and Owen hauled Montalto down to Paris for his birthday dinner. Details are sparse, but if you find yourself in Paris with money to burn, eat at a restaurant called Allard. It's near Notre Dame. Roast duck in olives. Warm bacon salad. Cassoulet. Warm sausage and potatoes. Champagne. Wine. Dear god.

(The CD just moved onto some godawful dance remix of "Stop. Look, and Listen". It's Elvis, people! LEAVE ELVIS ALONE! sob sob).

Anyway, we also had an afternoon show last weekend at a cool little motorcycle bar called Den Bromfiets, in Bonheiden. It was the closest thing to an Ivy Room gig we've had on the tour. There was a great rowdy crowd, a bicycle race that swung by every 30 minutes or so, and Red Meat kicked serious ass. A guy there approached Scott and asked him if he could put this cool looking yellow "VL" sticker on his guitar case. Scott agreed, and we spent the next 5 days with a nationalist, ultra right-wing Belgian movement sticker on Scott's case. We had no idea until someone told us in Antwerp, and Scott peeled the thing off. Red Meat tries not to be involved in other country's politics. We may start some kind of international incident resulting in the movement of many Panzer divisions and the Big Red One.

OK, I need coffee now. Stay dry, Iowans.

Red Meat is on tour in Belgium and the Netherlands! It's the best place in the world to ride a bike, that's for sure--flat as a crepe. It's funny to see the rockabilly/retro/hillbillies arrive to see the show--on their bikes! Everyone rides, and we have been, too. The house where we are staying has a bunch of bikes, and we can ride all over.

The folks here love country music and we have been having some cool shows, both in clubs and at out door festivals. Last night we played Antwerp, a beautiful old city with lots of crooked, narrow streets and an amazing cathedral just down the block from the club.

Most folks speak English, which is good cuz our Flemish and Dutch skills are non-existent, though Owen can speak French and he got us by in Paris on our days off. The Dutch are tall and the boys swear the urinals here are higher than in the US. More later!

There is a cool review in the Sept/Oct issue of No Depression and also at www.countrystandardtime.com (read below): From the opening twanging of "Honky Tonk Habit" Red Meat firmly establishes their pedigree as a Bakersfield-influenced country group.

Red Meat has been around for years, but it's been years since we've had fresh Red Meat. Why were they waiting?! As with 2001's Alameda County Line, Dave Alvin is producing and the result is a mix of uptempo covers and interesting originals, including some requisite tear-jerkers ("That Couple in Love," "I'm Not the Girl for You."). Most all the band members get a chance to sing, with the exception of guitarist Michael Montalta, which helps keeps listener interest high. But then again, so does good material and great arrangements.

Jill Olson proves her mettle as a songwriter with the forlorn "I'm Not the Girl from You" and the fun tunes "Thriftstore Cowgirl" and "Queen of King City." Scott Young's '40s era sounding "High Maintenance Babe" just begs to be covered. The waltz-tempo'd "Sunday" (written by Mark Bilyeu) is plaintive and beautiful. The lone instrumental is "Moonrock."

It's a great listen that's never boring, and would prove especially fun for those roots-rock fans with an affinity for twang.