Date: Jan 20, 2009

You can now order the new CD from Polyvinyl  HERE 

Light Works is our new release. It is seven brand new songs long. Orders will ship on November 26th (in stores Dec. 4). It will cost a little over $8 ($10 shipped) in the U.S. ( I think) and will come with a poster. Buying it from them is like buying it from us.

p.s. Some Echoes is also available for a short time at $8 each.

Just a quick note confirming the new Aloha release. On December 4, Polyvinyl will release Light Works.  You might call it an EP, but at 7 songs and 30 minutes, it's more of a short LP. The songs are built upon acoustic guitars, but we think you will find the title to be somewhat ironic. We're very proud to present this little world to you, and happy to say it will be adorned with artwork by Daniel Danger (tinymediaempire.com) and Jake Kelly and cased in a 100% recycled digipak. Yours, Tony C.

13 hour plane flights being what they are, at the almost there point, we are fine.  We arrived at Dulles at 10am, stood in a line, then stood in another line.  Eventually we stood in another line and finally sat down on the plane.  It was the back of the bus for us, which I don't mind.  Though as always, when I walked
past the first class seats that lay back into a bed and come with slippers and a foot massage, I couldn't help but think wouldn't it be nice. 

For in-flight entertainment, I listened to the dialogue from my neighbor's movie audio playing beneath the audio for the movie I was watching.  For some reason I see double a little in the seatback displays.  I enjoyed the cop movie, but disliked the fortune teller movies.  There were two.  Apparently
they could not predict the movie would stink.  The kids movie had a talking rabbit, so naturally I enjoyed that.  I was nonplussed by the Intel product
placement some 45 minutes in.  The talking rabbit was running a pentium chip.  How stupid.  Everyone knows the nVidia is a better chip.  Zing.  There was also a movie with a blind guy going on blind dates.  It was apparently written by blind monkeys for an audience that would likely wish to blind themselve's for
watching it.  Let's just say that the at one point he surgically gets his eyesight back and we are treated to his pov, in grainy black and white.  Gripping! 

And now, TJ and I are sitting and waiting.  The plane leaves in two hours.  My computer clock says 3:20am, and the digital clock over the moving sidewalk says 16:21pm.  I have slept maybe two hours, after sleeping less than four in DC.  And I smell exquisite.    

Hours later and in Singapore, everything got clean and bright very quickly.  We met our guides, there were multiple.  All very nice.  In customs we saw Bob
Nanna, who is playing the fest too.  He is always larger than memory.  All the gear made it on through fine, though we nearly lost the marimba on a sloped
escalator.  The ride from the airport to the city was amazing, palms and high rise apartment buildings on all sides.   

We checked into the hotel, it is nice and spare.  Like a plain hotel, with minor cool furniture.  There is no clock or tv in our room.  But it has AC.  We cleaned
up and found a bar and had a welcome beer.  It ended up running $150 for two rounds.  Beer is expensive.  So if anyone wants to buy us a round, we welcome it.

First day at Baybeats was overwhelming and fantastic.  The soundcheck went too fast, the complex was too big and everything seemed very nice.  We hardly got a chance to dial the amps in and we were done checking.  Brian had to learn the programmable board on the fly, but did fine.  Sometime in soundcheck, TJ managed to download drivers while checking his marimba.  It was a glorious moment for the Internets.  The Internets saved our midi controller. 

The rest of the day was spent walking.  So nmuch walking, in the heat, in denim.  We walked from one Hindu temple to the next.  Little India all around us, pungent and awesome.  It was like curry, and durian, and something else not so nice, all in one.  We ate dinner at the Banana Leaf, where they feed you indian food on a leaf.  Somehow we eneded up with enough food for 10 people.  Sleep came easy, but we dragged ouselves out at for Bob's set at the fest.  Eveyone felt horrible but we had to do it to flip our clocks. 

The next morning came and went and we were at the fest before we knew it.  First a soundcheck for the acoustic set, then the set, then an autograph thingy, then our set.  It was a lot of stuff.  The acoustic set went surprisingly well.  We played the quiet version of You've Escaped and did well.  The autograph thingy was awkward, but interesting.  Someone brought their copies of our LPs, which was nice to see.  Things getting further out from our little orbit. 

Our set finally happened last and late.  We did fine, with a few hiccups.  I stepped on my cord and unplugged myself.  Monitors were sketchy.  But Brian had the front of house totally solid, so I felt okay about everything. After everything, we headed back to the hotel with our backstage dressing room beers and drank at the top of the driveway to the hotel and chatted.  It is at this time I was informed that the plane flight was at 7am so we would be leaving for the airport at 3am.  No sleep till Brooklyn.