Well we’re going to start practicing again tomorrow morning. Because of my surgery, we haven’t practiced in a few weeks so I’m looking forward to it. The next couple of months are kind of going to be up in the air as far as how much work we can do. We’ll see how things go with my knee but very soon Dino and his wife are going to be having a baby. Dino’s going to take a few weeks off as soon as that happens but after that we intend to get back on stage and get back in the studio. We’ll keep you posted about our progress.

I intended to use my time wisely during my surgery recovery. I intended to finish the lyrics to the “I hope you game ‘em attitude” song. Well that isn’t going so well. The pain meds I’m on say to “take one to two pills every six hours or as needed”. Where I come from that means to take two pills every four and a half to five hours until you run out and then call the doc for more.

This medicine makes me very happy…nostalgic…content…oh yeah and it makes my knee stop hurting too. The one thing it doesn’t do is let me write lyrics. I’ve been trying to write words to that song for a while now…even before my surgery. I’m having a hell of a time figuring out what “I hope you gave ‘em attitude” means. It sings well…it sounds cool…but I don’t know where to go with it. Oh well, I’ll just pop a few more pills and hope for the best.

If you’re interested in seeing a pic of my knee I’ve got one. It’s kinda gross so consider yourself warned. If you insist, click here.

OK I’m back from the hospital now thank God. My surgery didn’t go so well actually. Once they got in there they realized that my knee was a lot more screwed up than they originally thought. It was supposed to be a 2 to 2 1/2 hour deal and it ended up taking almost 4 1/2 hours. Some of the damage wasn’t able to be repaired. I had to stay in the hospital another day longer because the doc didn’t think I could get by without the super pain shots they were giving me every three hours. That’s kinda funny since I didn’t think those shots were doing shit anyway. So that’s the latest…lotsa pain…lotsa pills.

I have to be at the hospital at 5:30AM tomorrow. My knee surgery is at 7:30AM. People keep asking me if I’m nervous and honestly I’m not…OK well maybe a little. I’ve had a few surgeries before and from my experience, all that happens is that they tell you to count back from 10. You get to about 8 and fall asleep then about 4 seconds later you wake up thirsty as hell and that’s pretty much it.

I’m going to try and take advantage of my recovery time at home by working on some new songs, finishing up some not so new songs, and most importantly, developing a crippling percocet addiction. Wish me luck.

At our last rehearsal we worked on this new song that we’re feeling pretty good about. I don’t have any lyrics yet…except for the hook. I recorded an acoustic demo of it a couple of months ago. If you want to hear what it sounds like you can get it here. I’m not going to put it on the Audio page because it’s a little weird to hear me sing it without lyrics and if somebody comes to the site who’s never heard us before and hears it, they’ll think I’ve lost my mind. But if you’re into us enough to read the blog then we’ll trust that you know what’s up.

There were two concerts I wanted to go to tonight. My cousin wanted me to go see Steve Vai and Dino wanted me to go see Steve Gadd. I’d never been to a concert with my cousin so I decided to go to Vai. I checked on tickets this morning and they were sold out. Oh well, the Steve Gadd thing would probably be cooler anyway. I called Dino and said I’d meet him there. I showed up and paid seven dollars for parking… got in line and whuddya know…sold out. Concerts are for pussies anyway.

I think I’ve bought three albums in the last year or so. Two of them I bought tonight…Amorica by The Black Crowes and Frances the Mute by The Mars Volta. The third one was A Ghost is Born by Wilco and that was a couple of months ago. Amorica and Frances the Mute came highly recommended by our producer J. Christopher Hughes.

For someone who loves music as much as I do, I have a very limited CD collection…VERY limited. In fact, I really don’t even listen to music that much anymore…and when I do, I usually end up listening to one of the same ten albums I’ve been obsessing over for the last ten or twelve years. I really should get out more.

Speaking of getting out more…my wife and I went and saw Sin City last night. It is quite a cinematic accomplishment…extremely innovative…unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. I hated it. I hated it real real bad.

We met with J. Christopher Hughes last night to beg him to let us record the album with him. We offered him blow…we offered to blow him…(well, actually that was Nate’s idea but we went along with it)…he consented. We’ll be starting on pre-production immediately.

All homo jokes aside, we’re very excited about working with Hughes. He’s got great ears and he definitely speaks our language when talking about what is involved in making a great record. We couldn’t be happier.

The world is saved. Baseball season has started.

I’ve got a Fighting Illini cap. I don’t watch basketball. I don’t own a basketball. I just wear cheap hats that look good. I am amazed at how many strangers have struck up conversations with me about the Illini basketball team when I wear that hat…which is…like…every day…until it starts to stink. People are really put off when I tell them that I’m not a basketball fan. It’s strange though that when I wear my “You suck, I rule” t-shirt with that hat…no one wants to talk. I like it better that way.