Hello Good folks of the mailing list. How the hell are you? We're heading up to Northern California and Oregon this weekend and we hope to see you all up there. The shows will go as follows.
May 30 2008 9:00P
The Odd Fellows Hall Sebastopol, California
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> May 31 2008 2:00P
Mateel Summer Arts and Music Festival Redway, California
http://www.mateel.org/summerarts.php
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> Jun 4 2008 9:00P
Silver Moon Brewing Company Bend, Oregon
http://www.silvermoonbrewing.com/
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> Jun 5 2008 9:00P
Sam Bonds Garage, Eugene, Oregon
http://www.sambonds.com/
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> Jun 7 2008 8:00P
Good Foot Lounge Portland, Oregon
http://www.thegoodfoot.com/
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> Jun 10 2008 10:15P
Humphreys Backstage Lounge..ROOTS/Badu After Party San Diego, California http://www.humphreysbythebay.com/backstageMusicClub.cfm
.. -->[endif]-->
Jun 13 2008 10:00P
Goat Head Saloon Mesa, Arizona
http://www.goatheadsaloon.com/
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> Jun 14 2008 9:00P
Flagstaff Brewing Company Flagstaff, Arizona
www.flagbrew.com
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]-->.. -->[endif]--> Aug 8 2008 8:00P
Summer Meltdown Festival Darrington,
www.summermeltdown.com
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]--> But I digress…….
My Black doppelganger…..or is that redundant
.. -->[if !supportEmptyParas]--> .. -->[endif]-->I live in a beach community, Ocean Beach to be exact. And though there are a few African Americans who gravitate to ocean dwelling, the few is far between. 7 years ago, when I first arrived in San Diego, people frequently asked me about my son. Questions like, "How is your son doing" and "Man your boy is growing fast" and the ever alarming "Where is your son". These questions were generally met with shock and awe and a look that seemed to say "what e-x-a-c-t-l-y do you know that I don't know?" After a few months of living here I met a black cat named Jacob, I also met his son and I also knew immediately that my ignorance of having a child confused several of his acquaintances over the previous months. The more I think about it, I wonder if I ever got him in trouble, arriving home to an undeserved scowl with rumors abound of sightings of him with another woman or things of that nature. Anyway, overtime people learned how to differentiate us and pick out the subtle divergences of our blackness, like the fact that we look absolutely nothing alike whatsoever. Recently there has been a new confusion in town. Over the past several months people have been calling me Patrick. At least twice a week I hear someone fire the word Patrick at my back two to three times and the forth fades through lack of response. A former girlfriend thought she saw me at a bar and left a message inquiring if I had once again tumbled off the wagon, I missed her call cause I was in the Library at the time, so I know that it wasn't me. As we sound checked at Earth Day, I heard a distant "yeah Patrick" followed by a fainter "I didn't know Patrick was in a band." I was in line at the Peoples Organic Coop in OB and I looked at the nametag of the tall skinny bearded black man ringing me up and sure enough it read Patrick, but before I could say anything he drew first and asked "are you Al Howard?" He then listed off a litany of misidentifications including one in LA where a young woman told him "she loved the K23." We discussed that perhaps one of us should shave or acquire or perhaps a more drastic approach, we could draw straws to see who's blackness would take a more Dennis Rodman-like approach. As I left behind this conversation the black-light-bulb went on over my head. Perhaps we could use our similar features to our advantage. He could learn all the lyrics to K23 songs and go on the road when I'm sick, or walk through the crowd and be social when I'm in the shaky grips of anxiety. If there is a family function he can't attend for some reason, I could just show up in his stead. I went back to discuss this with him last week because I was worried that I had to miss my girlfriend's graduation. I got there only to find that he had shaven off his beard. Alas, no doppelganger for 3-6 months (is his facial hair grows as slowly as mine)