Oh man!  Buddies!

We're playing TWO shows in Sacramento this evening.

One free one for people of all ages, and one also-affordable one for people who are older than twenty.

We haven't done this sort of thing in years.  We're excited.

You know, excited in a cool, collected, masculine way.  That's how we do.

Come say hi.

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

---

jul 3 fri Golden Shoulders, Radio Orangevale, Jeepster, Trainwreck Revival at Cesar Chavez Park, 9th & I Street, Downtown Sacramento a/a 5pm FREE
jul 3 fri Cowboy Killers, Golden Shoulders, Whiskey Gentlemen at Old Ironsides, 1901 10th Street, Sacramento 21+ 9pm $7

Oh, hey, buddies.

We made a new record.

This one is called Get Reasonable, and it's our newest CD of all time.*

Featuring twelve songs performed by a ridiculous number of musicians, this record is, I hope, worth the wait.  We recorded it with Dana Gumbiner, because we liked the other records we recorded with him and he seems like a kind man.  And we had Elias Crouch design it, since he did such a great job with our KIN EP, and he comes across as a really down-to-earth dude, in a way.  Anyway, I'm proud of it and excited about the variety of sounds and friends that play on the thing.  You can listen to it now, for free, miraculously on our recently redesigned website.  Try here: http://www.goldenshoulders.com/music.php.  And you can order it from that same site.  It will supposedly be up on the iTunes Music Store sometime between RIGHT NOW and the 29th(?) of this month.  Don't ask me.

Check out this weak move, because this is important: in my haste I neglected to give full credit in the liner notes to two fellows who did amazing work on this record.  Unbelievable.  The songs "Make No Mistake" and "Golden States" were produced and arranged by Dan Elkan.  The song "Explain Yourself" was produced and arranged by Bobby Birdman.  Those are three of the best songs on the record, and it has everything to do with those guys.  I gave them some sketchy voice-and-acoustic-guitar demos and they gave you what can only be described as "rad jams."  Anyway, I'll be kicking myself for that mistake for years.  No joke, this is my all-time dumbest blunder that doesn't involve one or more human females.  Sorry to Dan and Bobby and thank you to Dan and Bobby.  Credit where credit is dude.

We're heading out on tour TONIGHT and we'll be playing loads of songs from the new record and selling it to buddies who come out to the shows.  I'm looking forward to seeing what you all think of the songs.  Please enjoy responsibly.

Okay!

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

* I don't know if this joke never gets old, but it definitely never gets good.

You can buy Get Reasonable from our website (http://www.goldenshoulders.com/order.php), from After the Gold Rush Records in Nevada City, from the Beat in Sacramento, and very soon from the iTunes Music Store.  We hope you like it a lot.

Oh, buddies.

We're coming to see you.  Or, if not you, specifically, someone who lives in a town further than a reasonable driving distance away from you.  Sorry about that.

But here goes: Jason Graham (of Golden Shoulders) and Brett Shady (of Golden Shoulders) are joining me (of the Rolling Stones, maybe) on an ambitious two-week saunter across these United States.  We're planning to kick Brett out of the band immediately after our Michigan show, and then replace him with Elissa Spencer for the Brooklyn show, and then boot her out (most likely due to her attitude), and then simply perform as a kindly, misguided duo for the remainder of the shows.  Maybe that's not all true, but it FEELS true.

If you don't live anywhere near where we're playing, we apologize (and suggest you move), but we ask this one thing: if you know any buddies living in or around the towns we are getting to, could you encourage them to come see us?  A successful, happy tour will lead to us touring more often and to more places.  Help us out, we're tiny.

We will, of course, bring along plenty of copies of our brand new CD, Get Reasonable.  So there's some extra incentive to come out to a show.

The list of shows is below, and dates may be added, so check our website (http://www.goldenshoulders.com) for updates (and free podcasts, theoretically) throughout the next couple weeks.

Thanks!

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

---

may 10 sun Golden Shoulders, the D. Elkan at the Basement, 548 Main Street, Nevada City, CA a/a 8pm $5
may 11 mon Golden Shoulders, Adam and Darcie and Friends, Brett Shady at A House, 425 E. Center Street, Provo, UT a/a 8pm
may 12 tue Golden Shoulders, .24, Brett Shady at the Firebrand, 108 Main Street, Gunnison, CO a/a 7:30pm $5
may 13 wed Golden Shoulders, Pat Sings! at the Dusty Bookshelf, 700 N. Manhattan Avenue, Manhattan, KS a/a 8pm $5
may 14 thu Golden Shoulders, Manipulator Alligator, Brett Shady at Coffee Break, 5400 Troost Avenue, Kansas City, MO a/a 7pm
may 15 fri Golden Shoulders, Milly Geronimo, Vintage Gramma at Dollop, 4181 N Clarendon Ave, Chicago, IL a/a 7pm $5
may 16 sat Emily Rose, Golden Shoulders, Jeff St. John, Sugarspell at PCBC, 884 Penniman Avenue, Plymouth, MI a/a
may 18 mon Michael Beauchamp and The Barn Roughs, Golden Shoulders at Pete's Candy Store, 709 Lorimer Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY 21+ 9pm
may 19 tue Anexo Social, Attention Shoppers!, Golden Shoulders, thingamajigsaw at Velvet Lounge, 915 U Street NW, Washington, DC 21+ 9pm $7
may 22 fri Golden Shoulders at Lemp Neighborhood Arts Center, 3301 Lemp Avenue, St. Louis, MO

Dear every human in America,

The Golden Shoulders two-man show is preparing to get in a car and drive.  In May.

There are towns we will ALWAYS play on these trips (Gunnison, Colorado?  Manhattan, Kansas?  I'm looking at you) and there are towns we played once that terrified us and we probably won't go back (thanks for the heebie jeebies, Akron, Ohio).  But maybe this time we can play YOUR town!!

Let me explain what we're doing: Two dudes, no electricity. No amps, no microphones. Imagine music happening around a campfire. Like that, but us.  (Someone conveniently put the following clips on YouTube, so you may as well look here to get an idea: with Brett, with Neal, with Neal and Elissa)

We're avoiding bars and rock clubs and looking for more intimate places for 50 to 100 quiet people. On-campus venues, galleries, small theatres, respectable coffeehouses or even spacious living rooms, if it comes to that. We're trying to keep the cover charge for the shows we're playing on this tour under $10 and trying to stick to all ages venues. We are nice buddies who want to play to friendly audiences and make enough to pay for gas, food, and, if possible, diamonds.  

Do you attend a college?  Did you know colleges have money in their budget for just this sort of thing?  It's true!  One of your fellow students has a title along the lines of "activities coordinator" or something.  Harass them into getting us onto your campus.  We will reward you with high fives, and, if possible, diamonds.

Contact me.  On this very social networking site.  Let me know if you could help put a show together in your zone.  We'd need locals to put up flyers and stuff as the show date approaches, that sort of fun thing.  Other things too.

Due to some constraints of the space-time continuum, places that are sort of out-of-the-way (like south Florida and northwest Alaska) are unlikely to see us.  But if you're situated around the middle of the country or generally around the east coast, there's a very good chance we'll come see you.

Please allow us to get next to you.

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

P.S.  Buddies in the Bay Area: don't worry, we'll see you in April.  Buddies elsewhere in California and the Pacific Northwest, don't worry, we'll see you this summer.  Buddies outside of the United States: we want to see you, seriously.  But it's tricky.  We're working on it.

Buddies.

Get into this:

One of the questions I'm most often asked about the band and our recordings is if/when we're going to put our full length albums out on vinyl.  And I always say something that falls between "maybe" and "probably not", depending on my mood, which is notoriously delightful.

But this is nice: our 2006 EP, KIN, is available on vinyl.  If you have a record player and functioning ears, or you know someone who does, this news will delight you.  The vinyl version includes a song that wasn't on the CD version ("Everyone Everywhere") and demos of songs that were ("Be Warned", "There's No Reason").  

I've been selling the vinyl version of KIN exclusively at shows the past couple years, but right now, you can order one for yourself online at the website of Welcome Home Records, who released KIN in the first place.  All this at a massive discount of 25% off the usual price.  

To sweeten the deal, they're offering the same discount on the CD versions of KIN and the Friendship Is Deep re-issue... and every other CD they've put out..!  If you like bargains, you'll recognize this as being the exact sort of thing you like, as briefly defined at the beginning of this very sentence!  This rad deal will exist through the end of January.  So, you know, time to start thinking about Valentine's Day presents NOW.

Anyway, here's the fun: http://welcomehomerecords.com/our_records.html

I thought you might want to know.  Keep an eye out for news about our new album shortly.

Be good.

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

My friends,

We're Paste Magazine's Band of the Week this week, my friends.

You can read a possibly-interesting interview right here:

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2008/09/band-of-the-week-the-golden-shoulders.html

There you go, my friends.

My friends, BAND OF THE WEEK. And not just ANY week. THIS WEEK.

Adam Sidney McKline III
Golden Shoulders

Good evening, my good friends-

Listen here... We've started recording our forthcoming third full-length album. I am thus far pleased with the results and excited for you all to hear the new songs. Due to some scheduling mishaps, that probably won't happen until around the time President Obama is signed into office... but that all adds up to a good month, musically and politically speaking.



(if you like Golden Shoulders songs and Barack Obama) (I do, usually)

In the meantime, I've got some songs I'd like you to listen to. Frequent Golden Shoulder collaborator Brett Shady has been recording some songs at home, and I think they're beautiful and sad. I believe he's writing the best country-folk album in years. Jason says these songs remind him of Paul Simon. You be the judge. Brett has sung on more Golden Shoulders recordings than anyone other than me and he joined me for last year's United States tour, but these songs clearly demonstrate that he's got bigger fish to fry.



Here's his MySpace page, with the songs for your enjoyment. Add him has a friend, listen to the songs, and let him know what you think.



Thanks! I hope you like these songs as much as I do. I'll probably have more news about our new record in August sometime.



Thanks for all the support!

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

My dear friends-

We are now less than a week away from Super Tuesday. If you live in California (or in one of 21 other states, listed below), this coming Tuesday is the day of your Presidential primary election. If you are 18 or older, and registered as a Democrat or as "Decline to State", you can add your voice to the growing numbers of Barack Obama supporters. Make no mistake, this election will be decided by who shows up. If you want a say in the future of this country, you need to show up and be heard. If you're fed up with the government and sick of a group of (mostly) old men running the show, you need to vote. Turnout is going to be unprecedented in this election. More people are going to vote in this primary than in any American Presidential primary election in history. The people who demand a different direction in Washington need to outnumber the people who don't. I urge you to be a part of that.

The upcoming Presidential election is undoubtedly our chance for a fresh start. And our choice in this primary is either Hillary Clinton, a candidate who is funded by special interests (with more money taken from the defense industry than any other candidate, including the all of the Republican candidates -- think about THAT) and who unapologetically voted for the disastrous war in Iraq, or Barack Obama, a candidate who has received more donations from ordinary, working-class Americans than any other candidate in HISTORY, and who spoke out against this war when it was deeply unpopular to do so (more on this in a moment). Listen, for the record, I'm embarrassed that we haven't elected a woman into the White House yet. It's an outrage. But when we do, I want it to be because she is the best candidate for the job, not because she married some dude back in the day who went on to do well for himself. Not because of name recognition, but because she'll have the best ideas, because she'll inspire us, because she won't fall back on politics as usual when the poll numbers are looking shaky. That's not Hillary, guys.

(It didn't get as many headlines as John Edwards leaving the race, but our boy Kucinich has also dropped out. He's out. Not running. A vote for Kucinich isn't even a symbolic "eff you" to the Man at this point. So that's why I'm only concerning myself with the two Democratic candidates who are still actually in the race.)

I want to touch on Senator Obama's good judgment. When the war in Iraq was beginning, he spoke out eloquently against it at a time when politicians were either cheerleading the Bush administration or hiding their heads in the sand. We're at a point in our history where it's easy to see all of the flaws in the initial strategy, and pretty much everyone is lining up to dismiss the war as flawed from the start. But keep in mind where the country was at when it started: those who dared to withhold their support for the war were labeled unpatriotic (or worse, "with" the terrorists). The scent of freedom fries filled the air and the President of the United States proudly displayed his binary thinking by saying "you're either with us or against us." I strongly encourage you to read Barack's speech that he gave as the war was beginning and keep in mind the sort of pro-war national atmosphere he was giving it in. The speech is here (http://www.barackobama.com/2002/10/02/remarks_of_illinois_state_sen.php) and it is absolutely worth reading and passing on to friends. Seriously, do it.

This election shouldn't be about race or gender or anything other than WHO HAS THE IDEAS. Who inspires us?

Thanks for reading. You'll hear from me again on the morning of the 5th. It's important.

Adam Kline
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

---

States holding primaries or caucuses on Tuesday, February 5th:
Alabama
Alaska
Arizona
Arkansas
California
Connecticut
Delaware
Georgia
Idaho (Democratic Party Only)
Illinois
Kansas (Democratic Party Only)
Massachusetts
Minnesota
Missouri
New Jersey
New Mexico (Democratic Party Only)
New York
North Dakota
Oklahoma
Tennessee
Utah

Buddies-

Some of you may know that when I was in high school, I was in a band called Badical Turbo Radness. BTR was the band that Jason "frequent Golden Shoulders collaborator" Graham, Brett "also a frequent Golden Shoulders collaborator" Shady and I were in along with Rob "Bobby Birdman" Kieswetter and Hunter "the bass player from A.F.I." Burgan.

Last year, Golden Shoulders got together and recorded a song called "the Quickening Has B.", a song written and first performed eleven or twelve years ago by Badical Turbo Radness. Our new recording of this old song was for our friends at States Rights Records and their Groan/Grown Zone compilation. As of today, this recording is available from the iTunes Music Store for a very reasonable 99 cents. If you feel like hearing us playing a song that we used to play in the mid-nineties, don't pass up this unique opportunity to do so.

The band on this recording is Jason "was actually a member of Badical Turbo Radness" Graham on bass, vocals, and guitar, Ehren "was actually in a band called the Package back then" Haas on guitar, David "was seriously in a band called Shunsine" Nicholson on drums, Lee Bob "was in Jackpot, which means he's a lot cooler than any of us" Watson on keyboards, and me and Andrea "Kings & Queens" Good clapping and shaking things. Also, I sing lead, because I didn't get to on this particular song back in the day and I really, really wanted to. It's a fun song. It features the only known recorded guitar showdown between Ehren Haas and Jason Graham. Who wins? Your earholes.

It was all recorded by Rich "the Wankers" Good at his tremendous Orderly Manor recording studio, nestled in scenic Nevada City.

It's more energetic than what we generally play now, I think because it was written by high school students during the heyday of Sublime and Green Day. But it was fun to have a look back. Next: looking forward.

You can get the song here. Thanks!

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

Here's more on the subject of politics as it relates to Golden Shoulders, a band from Nevada City, California. If you're not interested in politics and you don't like Golden Shoulders, you should read something else. May I recommend Mark Twain's Letters From the Earth?

First off, let me state how proud I am of Neal Morgan, a guy I've played music with for about ten years now. Neal is in Nevada at this moment, canvassing for Barack Obama. Neal is a diligent, hardworking guy, and I can only imagine what sort of impact his work ethic is having on the Obama campaign in that state. Neal invited me up to Reno on Monday to hear the Senator speak, so I drove up with Rich and Andrea (a couple of attractive registered voters. Do you belong to that club?), and we had an amazing time. If you ever get the opportunity to hear the man speak, don't miss it. Though he was visibly exhausted, Barack was a captivating speaker and managed to charge up an audience of thousands who had waited hours to hear him speak. It was great. At the end of the event, I had the chance to shake the candidate's hand, and that was a real honor and a highlight of my week. I haven't washed my hand since, and it noticeably reeks of hope and change.

This has been an exciting campaign for those who are following it closely. A lot of dedicated people are working long hours for their candidate of choice. I admire that, and I've gained a new appreciation for the process. I get frustrated when I hear untrue things passed along as facts (beyond the completely ridiculous "OMG OBAMA IS A MUSLIM SPY" e-mails, there's also the argument that's been unchallenged in the press that Obama lacks experience when compared to the other Democratic candidates, when he's served 11 years as an elected official, compared to Hillary's seven years and Edwards' six... makes me nuts) and I get frustrated when actual comparisons of policy are shunted aside in favor of preposterous, manufactured controversies. I respect Senators Clinton and Edwards and am thankful for their service, but when I think about where our country is compared to where it ought to be, I can't help but throw all of my support behind Senator Obama. He's an undeniably inspiring figure and I hope that anyone reading this who is undecided and still looking at all of the candidates will take some time and give real consideration to him. Try watching some speeches on YouTube or reading his policy papers on his website. He's a substantial person and I think we would all benefit from his leadership.

After the last piece I wrote on politics, I heard back from a number of you. Most, I'm happy to report, were already excited about Barack and actively telling friends about him. Some encouraged me to look at Dennis Kuncinich and Ron Paul, which I immediately did. There's plenty to like about each of those guys (not the least of which is that they both make me look like an incredibly tall man), but neither one surpassed Obama for me. I was glad that I took the time to read up on those gentlemen, though, as it's never a bad thing to educate oneself on any of the people running for office. So thanks to those of you who encouraged me to do some reading.

We're getting down to the wire, but as I write this, it is not too late to register to vote in time for the California primaries on February 5th. Go here and register NOW! If you'll be 18 by the fifth of February, you can participate in the primary. And if you won't be 18 until November, you can register now to vote in the general election.

This is important. Ask yourself this: We outnumber them, so why are they running the show?

Adam
Golden Shoulders
Nevada City, California

Links of interest:
Register to Vote - It is simple and fast. Don't delay!
Barack Obama '08 - He has a firm handshake and a steady gaze.
Golden Shoulders - These guys are okay if you're into that sort of thing.