Well, THAT was a couple of weeks I just had.Opened up by playing with one of my bands (Grand Banks, brown-note sultans of C-ville) at our space with the fantastic-o Yellow Swans and Mouthus. Nice folks, plus the show was great. Would have been better if I had been feeling better. Our opening set was pretty good, then Yellow Swans played, tweaking, EQing, skronking. Wall of sound, but a wall made of other walls, ya know? Mouthus was great too, sludgy brrrrrrp. Whole thing made me lie down and reconsider what the hell I was doing playing music at all.Couple days later, new show, new line-up! We welcomed back the fantastic Matthew Clark (Flectarn, Form-Seeker), drummer for Ostinato and semi-permanent member of GB... he basically walked off the plane and straight onto the throne. We also welcomed a new member of the Grand Banks extended family, which could include you, if you think about it. Ruben Castaneda sat in on tenor sax and circular breathed for a good, oh, 45 minutes (about when Davis kicked me in the ass to tell me to stop moaning spread eagled on the floor). The set was great. What did you think?After us, John Wiese. Hadn't heard this guy before. Like sticking your head in a blender, but you know, good: white noise squall, but far from being undifferentiated noise (yeah, I'm damaged enough to tell the difference) there were rhythms, tonal clusters, separations... would be great to meditate to. At the volume it was playing, it was mind-erasing, and that's what I'm looking for. Fuck MIND.Wolf Eyes finished the show. Not a huge fan of Cookie Monsters, so I waited with some trepidation... what happened was genuinely scary. Dark amient swish, mournful drone sax ragas played at 16 rpm, a couple springs pop... listen, THIS is what the future will sound like. It was like the sound of a vast machine swivelling its sensors and LOOKING FOR YOUR PINK (or brown, yellow or albino, ain't no RACIST) ASS, slow like it don't gotta need to be quick, cause it knows it will be crushing skulls long after you're taking the dirt nap. Barely sentient, like an octopus. I was legitimately FRIGHTENED at one point, like, oh shit that spiny motherfucker just SAW ME... when they erupted into full-on noise pummel for the encore, I had to laugh, it was SO over the top. Made me a believer. Guess I'm gonn ahave to check out their new album, yclept Human Animal and highly regarded. Almost mate me forgive Nate (is that his name?) for being such a prong to my girl Sara. Well, she's moved on, so can I.Went to Chicago last weekend. Saw my boy Adam, heard some of the new Manishevitz album. It's gonna turn heads. Surprising; kinda of a side step into Eno territory in places. Any label heads looking for the next thing, here ya go: point yer doodad over to Manishevitz' Myspace page, they got four new ones up. Kicky l'il live show too; while the band honks and scrapes, jangles and spangles, Adam stands up there and does a funny little dance. Feel the difference in yer hair/hear/heir/air!Got to go by Reckless Records and dropped off some Bucks and Gallants records for consignment. Guy was nice, and they've already stuck the thing up on their website. Ain't that nice? Got some old Trenchmouth, an Asha Bhosle disc (the duets are great, the ghazals newer and not as good), and the new Boxhead Ensemble, Nocturnes, which I like. Fred Lonberg-Holm is a cellist of great merit; once saw him using his head to play the strings, but this is some mellow stuff. When I got home, the week ended with a new arrival in the mail: the NEW DANIEL (ARCUS INCUS ULULAT) HIGGS, INTERDIMENSIONAL SONG-SEAMSTRESS ALBUM! Called "Ancestral Songs," and for a good reason. All of them sound like they just trickled from the mountain oh, 6000 years ago, when the world was created. The man can fingerpick like a toasted Fahey. Bastard! On top of being one of the better poets and mystics living today, the guy can play? Well, shit. Eatern-inflected ragas for bango, a duet between Jew's harp and toy piano, cyclical dualist drones... the man's a heretic, and on his rock I build my church. (Guy also helms a little band a couple people have heard of called Lungfish.) Fan-fucking-tastic.Coming up: I sing Lambchop songs at a wedding for bandmate and brother Davis; I play church organ for old friend and bandmate BK; pictures of Lowry's kid, Danny's kid, and my black ass. Toodles!