........Holy shit!!!

Animalitos are amazing!  If you're in the LA area, check these awesome dudes out!!
http://www.myspace.com/animalitosla

Hey, we are all really excited to play a few shows on the West Coast on our way down to the North Park Awesome Fast (http://northparkawesomefast.com).  Plus, Seth and I are looking really, really pasty from Chicago winters and a general lack of sunshine so let's all go to the beach and get a tan!  Whhhooooooo (barf).

There's show info in the 'shows' section, for those so inclined to go.  So excited to see all the people & bands we miss dearly!!  XXOXO  Annie

First Vonnegut, now Studs. This man and his writings have inspired more than one This Is My Fist song, not to mention giving me the courage to put my own creative endeavors out into the world in the first place. His contributions to race, labor, class, political, and social issues have done more to attempt to repair the damage wreaked on our society than any punk record will ever do. Please, please read everything he's ever written, listen to his interviews, watch his TV appearances... soak it in and breathe it out. This is important.

Here are some links on the life of Studs Terkel, the finest Chicagoan since Albert Parsons:

NPR

The Daily Show

NY Times

The Guardian UK

Congratulate Craigums the next time you see his skinny little self.  As of an hour or two ago, our dear friend Ums went and became the 2008 WORLD AIR GUITAR CHAMPION in Oulu, Finland!!  This is a seriously awesome feat, requiring brains and guts and lots of flouncing around!  And let me tell you friend, Craig has got all those things aced.  We're sure his comeptition was the fiercest yet, but we knew he could whip it out and pull it off.

"Hello. My name is Craig, and I'm a Air-tist."
"WE LOVE YOU, CRAIG!"

You can read more details at:
http://usairguitar.blogspot.com/

Hello, good friends.


Just a note to say that the This Is My Fist website will be euthanized at the end of May. It's run it's course, and well, I'm just not into writing tons of code anymore. Sad, yes, but that and the fact that $80 a year is too much for a gal on a vet tech salary pretty much deceded this whole thing. in the meantime, this myspace page isn't going anywhere, unless Rupert Murdoch forces us users to sacrifice live animals or something. That said, I'll try to keep this site info more updated. Coolio.


xox A, S, J & Ums

So....uh... yea that pretty much summed it up. THREE shows on the west coast. See the "shows" section for info.

So. The website is back up. Sorry for the delay.

We have a new 7" split in the works with the fucking-a goddam MARKED MEN, which we are very excited about. Maybe it will be out by the time we play with them at the fucking-a goddam FEST 6 in Gainesville. What a country!

Also, we'll be hitting the road for a short tour in August with our ever-cheerful friends CANADIAN RIFLE. If we don't come back on the verge of suicide, mixed with fits of tearful laughter, then I don't know what the point of touring is anymore.

Sorry again about the whole "Craig's gonna be on TV so make sure and watch NBC" thing. I don't know what happened. But he was in the opening credits. At this time, we have no further plans to suggest that you ever tune into that trainwreck of humiliation and judgemental has-beens ever again. (Unless we get word that Craig will, in fact, be on it).

Ta-ta for now.

Sorry all if you watched for Craigums last night and realized at the end that "Hey, This Is My Fist LIED TO ME!!!!" As Craig put it, "America's Got Talent's got geography issues". We'll let him tell you what's up in his own words:

"I found out an hour before the show aired that it was the "Dallas" episode (the news came from Seth and Annie who now live 2 time zones ahead of us - this has so far been the only benefit of them moving away, snif snif). I'll give you the behind-the-scenes skinny below but lemme first say:

You'll be able to catch me on the "Chicago" episode, whenever that airs...

Why Chicago?
F if I know. I do know that they held open auditions in 4 big cities: SF, NYC, Dallas, and Chicago. I auditioned in SF (that story will come later - it is good one, I promise you). I passed the producer's scrutinies and 8 months later they sent me to LA. The stage we performed on in LA was the same stage they showed on TV tonight: Stage 23, CBS Studios, Burbank, California. Only difference was the sign on our stage said CHICAGO instead of DALLAS. Were they in Dallas? No. Was I in Chicago? No. It appears that they edit the show to look like would-be talent are lining up outside Convention Center, explaining to a camera who they are and why they are talented, and then walking with Jerry Springer right onto the stage in front of all them people.

TV magic.

So based on the fact that our stage had a sign reading CHICAGO in big neon letters I am going to predict that I will be on that episode.

Now, after watching tonight and seeing what acts made it through and which acts did not (and to a larger extent - which acts the producers thought deserved the most airtime), I would not blame you for forever tuning out. Most of us probably have little interest in seeing yet another singer performing someone else's songs, or watching another cheerleading squad do the Triple Lindey. Good as they may be, there are already 'reality' shows for them.

But before you write the program off completely let me first tell you a few of the people who shot the "Chicago" episode with me and you'll get an idea why I am defending the show:

- a guy who can talk backwards (like Satan!)
- the West Coast beatbox champion
- a guy who can sing in three different octaves at once
- a martial arts expert who can kill you using common household items
- a rock band performing only with their mouths
- a guy who lights himself on fire and who eventually got escorted out of the studio by armed security
- and a guy who does not impersonate Shakira so much as actually think he is Shakira

So if you have TIVO or even a VCR it might be worth it to tape the show and watch it later so you can skip through the commercials and acts that would be better suited for American Idol or So You Think You Can Dance. Hold out for the woman who does ballet on a unicycle and the guy who can break measuring sticks with his ass (both slated to be on at some point). They've got The Talent!

Thanks,
Craig"

Our drummer Craigums will be appearing on America's Got Talent this Tuesday, June 5th, as his alter-ego Hot Lixx Hulahan.  It's on NBC at 9/8c.  You can watch the Hoff & Jerry Springer give Ums a thumbs up or down.  Hell, make a drinking game of it.  Get angry, knock over a couch, flash your boobs at the TV....  whatever you need to do to show your support.