Hey y'all,

We just got back today from a week of shows, heading up to New York and back. I, for one, am worn out, but still a little exhilarated. Although I'm glad to be back home in Birmingham, I definitely wouldn't mind it if we'd extended the trip by a couple more weeks.

Early Sunday morning, we congregated at Ra-Jaan's house, loaded up my trusty Subaru Outback, and made for Vulture Whale's rehearsal space, where we all congregated and figured out our plan of attack. Said plan of attack figured out, we hit I-20 and thus began our trip to Wilmington, NC. Mercifully, seeing as the Subaru has a constant, albeit slow, oil leak, the drive was uneventful. Uneventful, that is, aside from a stop at the South Of The Border truckstop/amusement park. If you don't know about it, you'd better ask somebody. South Of The Border -- situated on I-95 just south of the South Carolina-North Carolina border -- is truly one of the most bizarre places I've ever witnessed.

In any event, we rolled into Wilmington later in the evening, and loaded into Hell's Kitchen. It winds up Hell's Kitchen is a sports bar, and it winds up that night's patrons of Hell's Kitchen would much rather have watched baseball than listened to a bunch of scraggly Alabama boys play rock'n'roll music. We wound up playing to a bar stocked with the backs of eight disinterested heads. In all fairness, though, when I go somewhere to watch an Auburn game, the last thing I want in the room is loud music. All that being said, the folks working at the bar -- and Brad Heller of the Fustics -- were exceptionally kind to us, and Vulture Whale sounded great.

After VW finished, the boys and I were in a bit of a quandary. We didn't know a soul, let alone have a place to stay, in Wilmington that night. But, thanks to my bull-headedness, and the constant encouragement of C.R., our spiritual adviser/merch dude, we decided to immediately strike out for my good buddy J.D. Mahaffey's place in Philadelphia. That's right. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Winds up, that's a fair piece from Wilmington. Like a big old eight-hour piece.

After nearly losing my mind in D.C. rush hour traffic at FOUR O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING (which began sixty miles south of D.C.), we finally broke through the Beltway traffic, and into daylight, around 8:00. Thoroughly delirious by this point, we rolled into Philly like madmen commandeering a tank. Finding J.D. about ready to head into work, we said our enthusiastic hellos, graciously took up spots on his floor, and passed the hell out.

To Be Continued...

Hey y’all,

I’ve started a blog at leebainsiii.blogspot.com. I’ll be posting on there a good bit more frequently than on here. Peep it, if you are so inclined.

Lee

First of all, a big thanks goes out to everybody who came to see us at Egan's tonight and even asked after a few demo CDs, a most particular thanks going to Blaine Duncan And The Lookers for having us there. We had a great time playing and sweated buckets.

Tonight, Mark "I'm Mark fucking Kimbrell" Kimbrell and Ra-Jaan Parmely comprised Arkadelphia, Mark thumping the ever-loving shit out of his weird-looking bass and Ra-Jaan switching gears between shuffles, two-steps and deep-down-church-funk like a ninja (Sidenote: Ra-Jaan is actually a ninja). I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship(s).

As if all that weren't enough, Blaine Duncan and his boys tore it up tonight, leaving all us Birmingham folks with a wonderful impression of Tuscaloosa and its music. I think one of the most amazing things about Blaine and them's set was their selection of covers; they covered the Dexateens, Ham Bagby, Jeff Evans and the Drive-By Truckers for a soundcheck. In case you were wondering, ALL of those folks hail from Alabama, if not Tuscaloosa in particular. These covers by slightly famous to straight-up local artists weren't a ploy to have the frat boys re-book them or to get the drunk chick to shake a tail-feather; they were to pay homage to good musicians and to good friends. To say that I was impressed would be selling the whole thing short.

Anyway, the folks at Egan's were very nice as well, Beau (sp?) from Baak Gwai being a more-than-helpful sound dude and Ashley being a more-than-entertaining host. Plus, everybody at the bar, it seemed, was into hearing the music. I think it's pretty damn cool that a bar not only hosts independent, all-original bands on a Friday night, but doesn't charge a cover, either. The whole thing is to be commended.

With that, I'm going to try and get some sleep before my schedule is thrown out of whack like a fat kid on a tilt-a-whirl.

- Lee

Hey y'all,

So - as I mentioned earlier - I'm not much longer for New York City.

At the end of June, I'll be heading back to Birmingham, where I plan on a good deal of porch-sitting and guitar-picking. I'll also be making some road trips to places I'm thinking about moving to and playing rock music in. Chances are, I'll relocate to one of the following places:
Athens, GA
Nashville/Murfreesboro, TN
Austin, TX
Chapel Hill, NC
or....
I might decide that I'd most love to stay in Birmingham.

If any of y'all have any input on those places, I'd love to hear it. I'm not super familiar with any of them (aside from B'ham) so I need all the help I can get.

Also, if you play music in any of those places, like the jams, and might want to get together and make noise, I'd definitely be down to do so. Hit me up.

- Lee III

So here it is. The time has come. After some of the best musical experiences of my life, after a handful of wonderfully fun shows, and after a multitude of Sundays spent with two of my best friends, making noise, talking about the blues and smoking cigarettes on the front porch, I'm leaving New York and returning to (some unwitting town in) the Deep South.

May 11 at the Knitting Factory will be the last show that Theo, Max and I will play in New York. I'll miss them, the music, and all of y'all a lot.

I'd just like to take up this space to say that I'm really grateful for these two guys and for all y'all that came out to see us play the music we really believe in (as well as the folks who intended to, but could never make it out). We really appreciate that.

The first time I played music with Max and Theo was on a warm, sunny day a lot like this one. I was seventeen with a suspended license (for undisclosed reasons) and had just gotten a ride from my friend William to John Carroll Catholic High School, which was just a short ride from Max's house. With guitar in hand, I called Max (who was just fifteen with only a permit) and begged him to come pick me up; I really didn't want to hitchhike on I-65.

After much convincing, he finally relented and convinced his friend Jonas (who was sixteen with a license) to come and get me. They "borrowed" Max's mom's stick-shift and wound their way through Hoover, Alabama to pick up some dirty kid they'd never met before. Oh yeah, and Jonas didn't know how to drive stick.

So, anyway, with a whole lot of stopping and starting and cussing at the clutch, Jonas made his way back to Apollo Circle while Max and I talked about Sun Ra.

Soon after we got there, a fifteen-year-old fella with a thirty-year-old's goatee walked in and politely introduced himself to me as Loren. A couple weeks later, after having to explain to way too many people that his name wasn't "Lauren," I asked him about his name. He told me his first name was actually Theodore and in that moment history was made. With an abiding appreciation of the Cosby Show, I dubbed him "Theo" and I guess it's stuck. It's a good name.

Anyway, Theo-Loren settled in behind his kit, Max picked up his bass and I strapped on my guitar and assumed the position behind the microphone. We played songs that we've all now forgotten how to play. But we had a great time doing it. We played one show at a soccer field and, soon afterward, disbanded. A while later, Theo joined me in the Shut-Ins and awed everybody within earshot with his gift for banging the hell out of the drums. Max continued to become a phenomenal bass player. I was always stunned by these two younger guys' musicianship and, over the months and years we played together, was constantly challenged as a player and songwriter.

Five years later, those two fellas have continued to challenge me. With Theo's ear for experimentation, I've been urged to step outside of my comfort-zone and look at music from different angles. With Max's attention to detail and talent for arrangement, I've learned to bring a new focus to my songwriting. Aside from all that, they've been great friends. I love these guys dearly.

As I leave New York and try to reincarnate Arkadelphia elsewhere (where the climate suits my clothes and the cost-of-living suits my billfold), I can't hope to find anybody to compare to Max and Theo, as musicians, yes, but as friends, also. I know they'll continue to grow as musicians and consistently amaze me in whatever they do.

That being said, I can't tell y'all how much this band has meant to me and how much it's meant to all of us to have y'all support us with the patience and graciousness that you have. I'll really miss running around talking to y'all before and after we play, grabbing cigarettes with y'all outside the club, and hearing you hoot and holler in between the songs. It means more to me than I can tell you. A particular thanks is due to Mia, who has been to every single damn one of our shows. Ma'am, you're too good to me, and us.

So, anyway, this is our last show in New York. It's at the Knitting Factory and we're excited about it. Since I'm graduating the day before, my mama, daddy, brothers, and sister-in-law will be in attendance (I suspect my grandmama will be asleep in the hotel room). In addition, my good friend and gifted songwriter Dare Dukes will be playing with us, as well as a band from Maryland called the Turnpikes that sounds pretty rocking. We're playing with four other bands, all of whom sound good.

For those of you in New York and the greater Northeast, it's been real. It's been fun. For those of you in the Dirty, I'm coming your way. Spread the word around town that some scruffy songwriter is coming to look for some good souls to make music with. I'm currently taking suggestions for which town to make my - and Arkadelphia's - new home.

That being said, I'll miss y'all, Max and Theo. I'll miss you, New York. Dixie, I'm looking forward to it.

Love,

Lee

Thanks to all who came out to "Southern Rock Nite." I think, thanks to all you good people, that together we firmly established Arkadelphia 'n' Friends as the most Southern and the most rock'n'roll folks there, by far.

Although that one dude with the Beyond-Thunderdome cowboy hat and leather pants was pretty rocking... Or would that be rawkin'?

Thanks to everybody that came to see us at Club Midway tonight. We had a great time and hope y'all did, too. Since we don't have much music recorded, since we're starting to accumulate a fair number of songs, and since we'd like for y'all to be as familiar with them as possible, here's the setlist we played tonight. We hadn't played Linen & Lust, Throw No Stones, or Train Cars in public before.

Walker County Loathing
Hank's Grave
Linen & Lust
Thin Straight Line
Still Believe
Throw No Stones
Train Cars
Avondale

Keep it dirty dirty!
Lee

Hey y'all,

A couple folks have e-mailed us to mention that they would like a demo, seeing as they're having trouble downloading the songs off the myspace page. I'm not sure what's going on, seeing as I've designated the songs as "downloadable," but that's the interweb for you.

If you're having trouble with the same thing and you'd like a demo (or you'd actually like to have a physical copy of music *gasp*), here's what we're gonna do:

For right now, please just send me a message here on myspace. Please put "DEMO" in the subject heading. We'll figure it out from there.

Just so we're clear, the demo includes the two recordings on this page ("Avondale" and "Walker County Loathing") as well as an acoustic song entitled "Train Cars."

Hit me up if you'd like one.

Thank y'all for the continued support.

Keeping it dirty dirty,

Lee

So, there's plenty a-brewing in Arkadelphia-land.

First off, we have a show coming up on Thursday, February 22nd at Club Midway in New York City. We're opening the show, which will include Kendra Morris (a phenomenal lo-fi soul singer), The Ordinary (a heralded guitar-driven indie band), and The Boroughs (a group of Queens boys playing punk rock that remind me a lot of another group of Queens boys that invented punk rock). We're pretty stoked about it. We're playing at 8:00, so please come early and plan to stay awhile. These really look like good bands.

Secondly, we're working hard on new material. By this next show, we should be ready to play a couple of three acoustic songs, featuring Max on mandolin. He's pretty fucking amazing at it. I'll put an acoustic number up here in the next little bit to prepare y'all. Get stoked! We also got a couple new rockers coming y'all's way, so be prepared to boogie down.

Third(ly?), we're in the process of working out arrangements to record an EP in the near future. We'll definitely keep y'all posted on that. We'll probably print some T-Shirts up, too.

Also! Please, if you live somewhere in the Northeast or on the East Coast and would like Arkadelphia to come play your rock club/VFW Hall/bingo parlor/parents' house/pool hall/basement/back yard, please let us know! We got wheels and we know how to use them!

Thank y'all for the support.

Keeping it dirty-dirty one rock show at a time,

Lee

For those of y'all that don't know, the municipal government of Washington D.C., the town that gave birth to the all-ages and straight-edge punk movements with bands like Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Rites of Spring and Fugazi along with the seminal Dischord records, has recently discussed banning all-ages clubs in the District.

In a couple words, this is fucked up.

Without thinking too much about it, I can credit a substantial part of my current musical ethos and aesthetic to my involvement with the all-ages scene, shows and venues in and around Birmingham, Alabama. Before I started avidly attending indie, punk and hardcore shows around 17 (I was admittedly a late bloomer), the only shows I knew to see were either by well-known bands at relatively large concert venues or lesser known bands at whatever bar had an easily distracted bouncer. Places like the Boiler Room, Cave9 and various living rooms around Southside provided kids like me a place where they could find other kids like me: kids that loved music. Some of the best shows I've ever seen have been ones I've watched from a sweaty crowd of fifty teenagers, screaming words to songs that - it seemed like - were written for us.

Ironically, D.C. - the city that, one could do well to argue, made all of that possible - is now on the brink of driving one more nail into the already built coffin of independent culture.

Last week, we had some trouble at our show between the door guy and a couple of friends who are under 21. New York's definitely not an all-ages kind of town. With the death of CBGB's, it's most definitely not.

What's going on here? Where do these folks get off? Last time I checked, rock and roll was invented by teenagers in Memphis. It was psychedelized by teenagers in San Francisco. It was stripped down and kicked out by teenagers in New York and DC, and - all along the way - teenagers all over the world have been the ones to insure that rock and roll will never die.

Man, this shit's fucked up.