It's been six months, (sorta) since we last dragged ass out in public so we thought, "what the hell!".

Three, count 'em, three shows in the works for The Common:

11/1/08 - The Common are taking part in the annual PRN Halloween show at our beloved Melody Inn. This year we will be donning capes and crowns with our working man's set of QUEEN classics. Hope to see you there, darling.

11/21/08 - Tonic Ball/Radio Radio - You know the drill, couple of classic artists, tons of bands doing two songs each. Lucky for us QUEEN is on tap. We just might have something prepared..

11/28/08 - Melody Inn - Yeah! a show where we can play our tunes. Please don't ask for any QUEEN covers because I'm sure we will be sick of QUEEN by this point!

More details to follow soon. Thanks for sticking with us.

-Jim

We have, like, TWO SHOWS!!!

Both are near and dear to our hearts, though.

The first is on Saturday November 10. It's a tribute show (not a fundraiser) for Stevie Ray's House of Wax. For those of you who remember the later parts of last century, Stevie Ray's was an independent record store in Muncie that also hosted shows. Stevie was legendary for not only hosting every touring band that came through, but also giving any band that could put together a set a chance to play. Though it wasn't around a long time, the store is a fond memory of the Muncie scene.

Stevie passed away last year after battling brain cancer. His wife and son put this show together to pay tribute to the memories of that venue. I think we're the only band on the bill that actually performed at the HOW. The Cocaine Wolves are Steve & Jim's other band that also includes ex-Retreads Mike and Matt. We're sure the Red Horse guys all probably did some shows at the HOW with other acts. Long Plastic Hallway kicks off the night.

This is an ALL-AGES show (that's right Southsiders, you can come see Mr. Roberts play drums) at The Launching Pad - a newer venue near Ball State's campus on the back side of University Square (former home of BW3). Starts at 8 PM and should be over well before midnight. Make plans to come now!

The other show is the sixth annual TONIC BALL. This event is a fundraiser for Second Helpings, a great organization that helps feed the hungry and trains the unemployed for careers in the food services. Every year the Tonic Ball selects two artists to whom they pay tribute. Each participating band performs at least one song from that artist and one other song. Some choose another song from that artist, some perform their own work. The sum is a very fun night for a very good cause.

This year's event pays tribute to THE CLASH and MADONNA. Bands covering The Clash will perform at Radio Radio. Madonna tribute acts will be next door at The Fountain Theater (all-ages). We've chosen to pay tribute to one of our all-time favorite acts, The Clash and will be performing "Somebody Got Murderd" and "London Calling."

The event kicks off at 8 PM on Friday, November 16. Tickets are $20.

After that's done, we celebrate Mike's and Ryan's birthdays (11/24 and 12/1 respectively) and head into the holidays hoping to write some new songs.

Hope to see you!

Weather we need to or not we, (The Common) have decided to come out from under our collective rock to bring you the uh..rock. Yes lawd! Four months of nothing and now two swinging shows in one week.

This Wednesday, (9/12) we'll be back at Birdy's in Indy for the annual "Shady 80's" night. It's an evening of Izod shirts, Anthony Michael Hall movies and rad 80's rock.

Friday, (9/14) finds us returning to our favorite watering hole, The Melody Inn for what will most likely be our final "full set, original" show of the year.

So, come out, have a beer with yer ol buddies The Common.

-Jim

Our long, long layoff is finally drawing to a close. After a very active 2006, we've been very quiet in 2007. It's not that we haven't been playing at all, but we certainly haven't played any "real shows" since late last year (we did do a cover show back in February - that doesn't count).

Anyway, that all changes on Friday, May 11. To say the least we're psyched to be getting back on stage. Best of all, NO NEW CRAP. Just good ol' stuff we always do. But, it's been so long it kind of feels new.

We did come to the realization during our down time that we want to make a new record. That's actually a big decision for us since we'd kind of just done home demos over the past year - most of which you can hear on MySpace. We also want to try some different approaches to our songs. Maybe throw a few curve balls, see what we've learned to do over the years.

In short - our hearts are still beating and we're happy to be getting out next Friday. BE THERE!!!

First things first - we haven't abandoned our old "Single of the Month" program. We've just redefined the amount of time in a month. So we finally got a new track posted this week. It's called "In the Air." It's the hardest true rock that The Common has done in a while. Perfect for heshing out. So be our guest and hesh away.

It's worth noting that this was our first recording we did completely in Steve's basement. Considering it's done by a bunch of half-assed recording engineers on mid-level equipment using only their collected intellect (low) and a copy of Home Recording For Dummies, it ain't bad. At least we think it's not.

We have another track about 75% ready to go from the same sessions called "So Cosmopolitan." We hope to get it up in December.

In other news...

- We've had some fun shows lately. The show at Doc's in Muncie wound up being a lot better than we'd anticipated. Doc's seems to have some life we haven't seen in the place in years. It's nice to see Muncie with a decent live music club.

- Tonic Ball was an absolute blast. The Fountain Theatre is one of our favorite places to play. We wound up doing "I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man" before Sweaty B bum rushed us and did "Jungle Love" with us. They were way ahead of schedule, so we got to do a third song. We went with our current "new song" called "Temptation Justification." It's got a nice grinding groove that kept folks dancing. In fact, it was quite fun to see people dancing to our stuff.

-  We have one more show this year. We're playing Saturday 11/25 at Local's Only with our pals Jackson Pain and 83 Feet. We've played a handful of shows with Jackson Pain in the past. If you like modern Brit Pop from groups like The Doves or Travis, you'll like JP. Unfortunately they don't get to play much anymore since two of their band members now live in New York and New Orleans and a third is moving to Seattle. So this should be a fun time. We do have a Nashville, TX show on 12/7 and we'll most likely do the Birdy's Christmas Party again this year, then shut down 'til 2007.

- One last piece of sad news. Our old friend Steve "Stevie Ray" Smith passed away last week following a bout with cancer. For those that have known us for a while, you'll probably remember us playing a lot of shows at Stevie Ray's House of Wax, a small, independent record store in Muncie. Steve was the owner and booker for the venue 'til it closed sometime around 2000. During the run of the store he was an ongoing booster for bands and helped bring some great shows to Muncie. He rode along when we went on  our "tour" in 2000 and always encouraged us, along with a lot of other bands, to reach for the brass ring and never sell ourselves short.

His son, who was always a fixture at the store whenever we'd play there, kept us updated during his final days. You can read his blog at www.myspace.com/xes_angel for details or leave a note of condolence.

Stuff...

* The Common extended family will be growing very soon. Mike Hayes & wife are reporting to the hospital tomorrow for the birth of Baby Binion (as we named the critter in Las Vegas).

* Congrats to Ryan on his June 24 nuptials. For more on all that silliness, visit his MySpace - www.myspace.com/commonryan.

* Congrats also go out to Mike Retread on his pending nuptials. If you're going to the reception, we'll see you there. Do some Commonoke with us.

* Neither Jim nor I have done anything near as significant this summer, so congrats to Jim for buying a BC Rich and to me for my kickass Thunderbird bass.

* Single of the month isn't dead, though it certainly seems like it. We have a couple of songs 85% complete. So we'll catch up a bit shortly. Look for them later in the month.

* We FINALLY return to stage at the Melody Inn on September 1. I imagine the show will be quite the event in Indy as it's reported to be the final show for beloved local act America Owns the Moon. Also the fine fellas in 83 Feet will be on the bill. Should be a fun night.

See y'all soon,

--Steve

...you better farkin' believe we're puttting him in our Top 10.

Welcome Kenny. I look forward to many years of reading your blogs, sharing bulletins, and seeing your cam phone pics.

--Steve

Just some quick self-promo - Nashville TX, the country alter-ego of The Common, is playing a show at the Melody Inn on Friday, June 2 with our friends in the Warner Gear (it's their CD release show). We should be going on around 9:30 PM.

After this show, we're off 'til September at least. Stay tuned for new songs/recordings. Otherwise we'll see you in September (just like the song says).

--Steve

In case you didn't know, we're making our freakin' triumphant return to Muncie on Saturday for a show billed as an Old Skool Muncie reunion. It harkens back to the first time Muncie was "the next Seattle."

Crankpin and Neurotic Box were the rulers of the Muncie basement scene back in the 90's. If you lived in Muncie back then, there's a good chance you wound up in a campus basement with a cup of keg beer watching them bash it out. Awesome then, and looks to repeat history on Saturday.

But, see, those guys were Ball State bands. We were, and still are, a Muncie band. Dirty locals from the south side who occasionally were allowed to play at Flying Tomato or the Dead Pigeon or, god forbid, that one show we played at Headliners. Hell, back then even the venues kind of looked like basements.

Anyway, come relive it on Saturday. Show kicks off around 8:30 or so at Centerstage in downtown Muncie (which isn't nearly the craphole it was in the mid-90's). I know those guys are ready for it. We're ready for it. $5 gets you in the door. The rock we serve will be free!!!

Forever cheesy,

Steve

Man, we got so much stuff you need to know, we simply MUST blog it on MySpace. It's the only way the world will know!!!

* We're winding down to what will be our longest break from playing live in a long time. We have a few shows in May, then we're out of the public eye 'til August or later. Why you may ask?
- Steve is out of town for a week in the middle of June for a work trip (it's in Las Vegas, so don't feel too damn sorry for him).
- Ryan is getting married in Las Vegas (duh, he's a member of the Common, of course he's getting married in Vegas). That's happening the week after Steve's work trip. We're all going (well, Steve is just shacking up out there for two weeks - expect him to come home broke and on a 12-step program).
- The bachelor party weekend is also in there in June.
- Sometime in July, Common baby #2 is due thanks to Mike and his wife. Being that babies don't book three months out, we're leaving July open.
- In August we play a wedding reception and a class reunion. Rawk.

So, if you wanna see us -
* Come to the Melody Inn on Friday May 12. It's our last *BIG* Indy show for a while. We even have a few new tunes to drop on you.
* Come to Centerstage in Muncie on Saturday May 20. We're part of a bill featuring reunions by Crankpin and Neurotic Box. We can't express in words how kickass this show will be.
* Come to Birdy's on May 23. We're doing a "softer side of the Common" opening set for our old buddy Adam Marsland.
* Come to the Melody Inn on June 2. It's NASHVILLE TEXAS TIME!!!

Then, poof, we're gone. We'll try to get a couple singles up between now and then, though.

Man, will MySpace be able to withstand news of this magnitude?