Rest assured we've been enjoying our little July furlough. Ross, as you know, has been away in Africa for most of the month saving the world one country at a time. In the meantime, we've been plotting away some new tour dates (which are multiplying like rabbits over here).

Roy celebrated his birthday last week, and I was forced to celebrate mine yesterday— don't get me wrong, I'm grateful my friends made me have fun. No party, but a few friends did appear at my doorstep with a Batman cake (no lie) and some good times. I caught the new X-Files movie. (Verdict: one long episode, worth watching, proceed with low to no expectations.)

Been spending the last week playing Myst. I got this game years ago and was as enthralled by it as I was baffled. Giving it another go 14 years later has yielded slightly greater success. Slightly. My mom would be proud.

I'm probably forgetting a million things.

Cheers,
Henry

As you can probably tell, I'm very, very, very excited about The Dark Knight. After the enormous disappointment that was Spider-Man 3: A Franchise Derailed, this flick is all I really have to look forward to. Got tickets for it tonight. That shit is going to be off the hook.

So to mark this occasion, check this out:
http://www.spike.com/video/crank-yankers-season/2796195

(I'd embed it if I could, but I can't, so bugger off.)

Oh fine, here are 12 clips I found whilst scouring the tubes of teh internets for spare warp drive parts.

No spoilers. Probably.


Cheers,
Henry

1. Saw Ghostbusters on Friday. It's still awesome. It's good to check these things from time to time (considering I wasn't even 2 years old when it came out, I have to reinforce the old memory). I'll tell you what I do remember, though: with all the Ghostbusters toys I wound up getting over the years, somewhere in Miami there's still a closet with a crap ton of G.I. Joes and a Stay Puft-shaped hole.

Actually, I also remember taking my Ray Stantz action figure to the beach one day and burying him in the sand. Of course I never found him again, but I know somewhere a discolored miniature Dan Ackroyd is crawling around Miami Beach somewhere, endlessly searching for his career.

2. Jen and I saw The Shills at this new (or new-ish) venue called Café 939 (the tables in the photo are taken out for shows), over by the Prudential. They've got a very nice setup, clear sound, nice staff, and the shows are always all ages (something Boston needs more of, quite frankly). I'd like to start seeing more shows out over there, but if you get the chance and you're in Boston you should check it out.

3. (There is no 3)

4. I'm going to see The Dark Knight this weekend, and no one is going to stop me. After the Amazing Let Down that was Spider-Man 3, I'm glad I have Batman as the backup go-to guy. While on that subject, I bought the Batman: Gotham Knights DVD that just came out (think the Animatrix, except it's Batman). It's not the greatest thing ever made, but it's enjoyable. The best part of it for me was Kevin Conroy doing Batman again. As far as I'm concerned, he will forever be the voice of Batman. The bonus disc also came with a few episodes of the Batman Animated Series. I love that show. It was one of those shining examples you could always point to when people bitched about how cartoons were so much better in the 80s. I would go as far as saying that— without counting Batman Begins and by all accounts The Dark Knight— Mask of the Phantasm has to be the second best Batman movie. (I know what everyone's going to say, so I'll beat you to it: I loved Batman Returns as a youngin', but upon seeing as an adult: it's crap.)

5. (Still no 3)

Cheers,
Henry

First off, I want to thank everyone who's been supporting us in this Coldplay concert thingie. There's been a huge show of support, even from friends of friends of people I haven't seen since like... middle school (let alone people I haven't talked to in a couple of years). Thank you guys so much. It sounds facetious, but it's really tugging at whatever heart strings I have left here. It does mean a lot, guys. (Special thanks to Shemp for giving us ten stars, despite his hatred of Coldplay knowing no bounds. This man gets an A+.)

The contest isn't over yet, kids, so if you haven't voted yet head to www.coldplayontour.com/wfnx/. If you have voted, then figure out a way to vote again! 10 stars is recommended and appreciated, because we are overachievers. Then tell all your friends, and tell them to tell their friends.

The site may look a little less than stellar on Internet Explorer, but the star all the way to the right would be 10 (and the one furthest to the left is 1... but you only have to know that to avoid it like poison ivy). We're the ones on the very top of the list. Long story short, if we make it to the top 3 Coldplay would have to choose between us and two other bands to open their August show and we may possibly have to bring out the lawyers to fight a poorly-written record contract from EMI. But I'm getting way ahead of myself. The point is I can't see why Coldplay wouldn't pick us, I actually bought X&Y and kind of enjoyed it. As far as I'm concerned they owe me!

Asides the contest, we're taking a commercial break for most of this month. Ross is taking another trip to Africa to save the world yet again (much like his trip there in 2006) till the end of July. The rest of us will be biding our time, possibly working on a couple of new songs or something. I don't know.

Actually, if we lose this Coldplay thing I'll probably just spend the month editing our faces into Coldplay concert footage.

Cheers,
Henry

Well it had to happen again at some point I'm sure. We had to cancel tonight's show. Colds here and there can be handled gracefully most of the time (unless you count that show at few years ago in Southborough... never mix meds, kids). However, one must admit bandmember(s) regurgitating food out of a moving vehicle is kind of hard to get around.

Still, even as we race back to Mass with the proverbial tail between our legs, three good things have come out of this:

- Just about finished the Carlin book. As one can expect, it's awesome. And twisted.
- Saw a cop yell at a cab driver for being a douchebag. It was beautiful.
- We got to see our friends in Philly last night, which is always worth the trip.

Anyway, many apologies once again New York. We'll make it up to you soon.

Worcester, get ready for puketown tomorrow. Population... You.

Cheers,
Henry

Here are a couple of things you can do for me that will win you my love (for now):

* Boston: tonight, some friends of mine are playing a show. It's at O'Brien's. I myself have not heard the offerings of said bands (Stars And Sons, and Ladies And Gentlemen), but they have a track record of being involved in things that were good to my ears.

* Philly, NYC, and Worcester: Come see us this weekend, in that order! Check out our shows page for details, because why should I have to type out redundant information? I will say we're very happy to be hitting all three towns again. Our friends in Televandals (who we've never played with before, but Nico's gotten us drunk before) and Radio America (who we've played with, at Ralph's in particular, countless times) will be joining us in Worcester. In fact, I think the first time we even met Radio America was at a July 4th weekend show they set up at Ralph's (me-mo-rieeeeeeeeees).

* Build up some good karma: A friend of ours, Jules (aka The Mixtress), was recently diagnosed with leukemia (specifically: Acute Myelogenous Leukemia). While she's doing her best to kick this awful disease's ass and the prognosis is looking good, she'll be out of action through the whole of July and will be doing treatments through the rest of the year. Her medical bills have ballooned to $30,000 after all's said and done and after all the help she's given to the indie music community at large she could use some help in her direction. There's a website set up to take donations from PayPal. Whatever you can give will be appreciated. (Tell your friends, too.)

http://www.dropcash.com/campaign/julesyb/help_with_my_medical_bills/

This is a video my sister sent me that had me laughing my ass off. It's amazing what a few well-placed bleeps will do.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-Wd-Q3F8KM

Now that you all have your instructions for the week, I'm going to go grab some breakfast. And possibly work on the Metro's terrible-yet-charming crossword.

Cheers,
Henry