OK so texas is big. that's not news. the prarie, the SUV's, the feedlots and the wal-marts; they're all big...really big. but apparently, this supersizing of things extends all the way down to the level of people's hearts. the people we encountered (especially in deep ellum) treated us w/ something akin to unconditional love.

a few shining examples:

after booking our show at Club Dada in deep ellum (w/ gracious and self-indulgent encouragement from Hendrick's bass player, gregory), Amanda the illustrious booking agent, manager, marketing genius by day and aspiring local politician, went so far as to put us up in her beautiful just moved in to loft...a block from the club...w/ a gated parking lot for vance. and then, upon hearing that our saturday night show had fallen through she asked us to jump on her saturday night show at Dada...and paid us...both nights...and let us crash w/ her again along w/ port angeles, WA neo-classic rock band, The Lonely H...and is a saint....and has a dog named beano.

our buddy, "little" Sean street teamed it w/ flyers and posters all around lubbock and texas tech only to have 15 people show up for the gig at bash riprocks. those are the breaks, man. thank you so much.

so we go to find espresso and wi-fi in deep ellum and after one thwarted attempt, we end up at this place called murray st. coffee. we meet this guy john who's a local promoter and musician and immediately start rapping it down about all kinds of things...the biz and what not. 10 minutes later we're at his house having a beer and a smoke. then doug from Sunward (very cool band...check 'em out) shows up...good times continuing on...and on. then the barista from the coffee shop shows up to see us at Dada...and brings her whole family (mom, dad, sister) and it turns out she went to st. johns (in santa fe). then sunday morning (early) things are looking dire for our trip home. we're underslept and over-partied. we need coffee and not just any coffee will do. we go back to murray st. only to find that the shop is closed. but wait...there's the owner sitting on a couch enjoying his morning shot w/ a newspaper. he recognizes us from yesterday and jumps up to let us in. he continues to brew a fresh pot of coffee, fill our joemos...and our thermos...and load us up w/ scrumptious apple muffins and then refuses to charge us for it. what a saint. and he's playing trentmoller on the stereo.

we could go on like this. but you get it, right? deep ellum is one of those communities where people know each other and support each other, working together to create a fabric of existence that is colorful and strong. they're doing it well down there and we were honored to be welcomed in to that network. can't wait to go back.

god, i almost forgot. jonnana widner, our old and dear friend, and her girlfriend took us to dealy square. you know...where JFK was shot. it was heavy there. right on the knoll, where the kill shot was made, brian stepped in a huge pile of poo.