goldengram

more recording

done tracking. it sounds so good. it is a buddy holly song. i won't say which one yet. now, we mix.

recording

hi,
i'm sitting in the main control room of soundworks studios in SF working on a song for a video game. we flew in our producer for out of the shadow, bill racine, he rules. itsa gonna be rad. it already is. things are well. very. actually, i gotta run, bill racine is running pat's drums through this thing called the culture vulture and it sounds amazing, i must go pay attention!

love, gg

oh monday

hi,
i had an awesome weekend, but for some reason, i woke up feeling awful today. really really sad and vulnerable for no discernable reason. i just lay in bed in a little ball and tried to go back to sleep to keep the day from starting. it didn't work. so i read a bunch of magazines. still no good. so i got up and went to yoga, then ran and lifted. about 10 minutes into my run, i felt happy. yeah. then i came home and made myself some lunch and just hung out. still feeling a little weird. then we practiced and everything fell away and i was a musician again. oh yeah, this is what i do for a living. i felt so much better. we haven't played since our last show, so i realize i was jonesing and it was probably affecting my emotions. oh i don't know. whatever. i don't have a job and i don't really want to get one, so we'll see what happens. i went to see citizens here and abroad @ the mile high on friday and that was good times with good friends. i went to the yard dogs burlesque show @ liminal on saturday and that ruled. what a beautiful event. people were all dressed up and i danced to some jazz. sunday i saw the pixies @ the greek theatre. holy jeez are they ever good. and their parts are all so simple. joey santiago rules. and i am going to bed.

love,

gram

listening to: Haywire from the album WhatFunLifeWas by Bedhead

bass explosed

that is what the name of this picture is that i drew last friday. now it is friday again.
what can i say today? the band is the band is the band and it will survive. i got to see zach's MRI last nite and wow, that disc is messed up. it was pushing right into his spinal cord. i am surprised he made it as long as he did. tonite, i might go to the french fry factory. or i might go to the mile high show that we were supposed to be playing. or i might do nothing. i am definitely going running. if you guys have never seen that bbc2 show, the office, i highly recommend it.
i watched the whole series last weekend. and the new mr. show season 4 dvd came out this week too. i've been watching a lot lately. i guess i got nothing interesting to say this afternoon. have a good weekend. love each other,

cheers,

gg

where am i?

i am at a friend's house in the city. last nite i drew a lot. with sharpies and stuff, i've been doing it a lot lately.
more than music.
you see, i have about 7 weeks until rogue wave plays again. if you're on the rogue wave email list, you already know. zach's back needs a rest. its been getting worse the more we tour.
so he's getting some surgery next week. no october shows for us.
no CMJ, no european tour. and that is OK. this needs to happen. our health is most important. our next show is in reno, NV with death cab for cutie. that'll be a good one.
we'll see how things go from there. the holidays are coming up you know.
so, now i am figuring myself out. workin' on the resume, hangin' out, seein' friends, taking care of life stuff like 401K, and COBRA (stupid), and new insurance. stuff like that. i'm staying creative too. i realize that is key to keeping my sanity and not letting me get into a bit of depression about the fact that i don't have a regular job and that we aren't playing for a while, and what the heck do i think i'm doing trying to be in a band for a job? thats not responsible, thats not secure! i can feel the pull of society in my head. it is ingrained in me that i must have a regular job. and that is even more crazy! silly societal conventions burned into my brain from thousands of hours of TV. so if i stay busy and creative and realize i have prepared for this all my life and i have a little money saved, and remind myself that this is all i ever wanted to do, then i can allow myself to enjoy a fine thursday morning in san fran. its like i'm on vacation when i spend the night at a friend's house in the city, i love sleepovers. i'm just hangin' out, writing and listening to music in my friends room. all the roommates have already gone to work. it is a new thing for me. all over the place there is this lack of people from about 8-6. in certain places, the streets are empty. so now i look for the places where people hang out during the work day. it is good. and i should be able to do it. i'm a smart guy, i can find ways to get by. now i need to find a place to get on the internet and post this thing. oh yeah, i'm going to the gym an awful lot lately. i plan to keep that up. they have all these free classes during the day when hardly anyone is there. ha ha. they are all at work. so that is rad and good for me after not exercising at all on the tours. now i'm going to go have breakfast with carl newman.

OH YEAH. i want to say thanks to all the kind folks that have been posting on my blog and writing me nice emails. it feels great! i didn't think anyone was actually reading this thing.

love,

gg

now playing:
SPOON - i summon you my love (demo)
Animal Collective - you could win a rabbit
david wingo & michael linnen - All the Real Girls soundtrack
ELO - Mr. Blue Sky
Joanna Newsom -Bridges & Balloons

garland, TX

Garland, TX. my home. where i lived from age 4 to 18. A quiet north Dallas suburb, used to be the home of the international foosball champion, and Leann Rhimes. And now, this:

International, the operating company of Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV) and a leading truck manufacturer, will officially unveil the International CXT on Thursday, Sept. 16, at its plant in Garland, Texas.

“The International CXT brings new meaning to ‘everything is big in Texas,’” said Garland Mayor Bob Day. “There is nothing on the road as bold, strong and tough as this truck, and we are delighted that International Truck and Engine Corporation will manufacture it here in Garland.”

This is the biggest, dumbest truck ever made. Ever. Forget Hummers. They're like Mini coopers now.

Check out this extreme truck right here. Garland, TX, I love you.

More soon, I gotta find a job...

love,

gg

weirdees

wow.

i am in dallas at the granada theatre. ryan from guster and i both grew up in north dallas, so its kinda freaky to be here. we really wanted to go to bills records and tapes where we went as teenagers, but we don't have a car. bummer. i used to go to the granada theatre when i was home from college. you could drink beer and watch dollar movies. i remember seeing demolition man there. dumb. and sliver. even dumber. so now its a venue. things are good. last nite i rode on the guster bus and it ruled. so the rest of the wave is in the van on the way. its gonna be a good show i can tell.
good times folks. good times. i learned today that lucky charms are actually better for you than raisin bran. guster has lucky charms on their rider and i was telling them how bad that stuff is, but then ryan's all, 'check the box man, lucky charms is better.' and he's right. look at the nutrition facts on the boxes, you'll see. you learn something new every day.

love,

gg

catching up...

hi,

i am sitting in the production room of cain's ballroom in tulsa OK. its amazing here. huge and wooden and beautfiul. the staff is the nicest ever and the sound is immaculate. its been open since 1924. it's the home of bob wills, of the texas playboys. everybody has played here. willie nelson, bob dylan, van halen, sex pistols, black oak arkansas. lots of history. guster is super nice. i'm playing wurli with them tonite. its fun. i get to use those in ear monitor thingees. now, i am going to post my entries from the last 2 days when i couldn't get online, OK?

.......................04.09.06.............................................................

dude, we stayed up late partying in the hot tub with jimmy and drew from the album leaf. it ruled. we poured beer all over the place, made beer can boats, and pat even jumped off the waterfall into the pool.
what an evening. the album leaf and rogue wave will cross paths again, you can bet on that. their live show was amazing. it is more theatrical in the sense that they play the same set every nite so the visuals synch up with the music. its really powerful. they covered the whole wall of the stage with a white tarp and projected stuff right onto the band. beautfiul. before the show, there was a rocky marathon on tv, we watched a bunch of rocky two, went to load in and then came back to watch more. we were almost late becuz we had to stay around til the end of rocky three. we ended up being on time and we were so pumped to be there. i wonder if there are any other bands where all 4 members will share a queen size bed while cheering sylvester stallone to beat down mr. T.

afterwards we kicked it at the apartment and jimmy showed us a ton of rad videos, most of which are from ebaumsworld which i must say is the coolest website i have seen in a while. you could waste a day. yes. and he showed me quicksilver, a mac osx program that saves time by allowing you to not have to use the dock to open applications. rad.

zach's friend, brian, rules for letting 11 people sleep in his place last night. kudos to him.

lots of good times. now, the long drive to tulsa. and guster.

...................04.09.07..............................................................

driving to tulsa. last nite we stayed in Albuquerque and watched laurel canyon on tv. not that good. but lou barlow, daniel lanois, and mark linkous were in it. and kate beckinsdale is pretty. ryan from guster emailed to ask if i will play wurli on one of their songs so i am trying to learn that before soundcheck tomorrow. it is likely that we will play to more people at the these next few shows than we ever have. we shall see. things are good. the band is ruling at hanging out. we have never gotten on as well as we have on this tour. the band that parties together stays together.

yesterday in the van i had a dream that we had just gotten back from tour and i called the girl i have been dating. she answered and was so happy to hear from me, so she came over and got me and we went back to her place. 'i'm so happy to see you.' she said. 'it's great to see you too. i'm so glad to be back from tour.' she kisses me, moving in really slowly and lovingly. i remember her lips so clearly. 'i like you' 'i like you too' i say. 'i think, i think, i love you. i've been thinking about it a lot and i know i do. i want to be with you. i want to settle down with you and be together forever.' i am overwhelmed. and at this point i realize i have to pee so bad and its the worst possible moment, but i have so much to tell her that i have to pee first. so i go to pee. once i got back from peeing, i was going to tell her that i have felt the same way for so long, but i hadn't wanted to say anything that might screw it up or make it seem too early. especially with her being a celebrity and all, and me having had a crush on her since junior high. i didn't want to assume anything. how could i tell her? but before i could do that, i woke up. and i had to pee real bad. i was so pissed, cuz the girl in the dream was drew barrymore. damn. she's dating a stroke anyway.
i just gotta be myself and bide my time. yeah.

love,

gg

but it's a dry heat...

i am in scottsdale, az at a friend of zach's apartment. it is a sweet little bachelor pad on the 2nd floor with a deck that overlooks the pool. we drove hard from LA yesterday after our amoeba instore, a stop @ in & out burger (not for me, i'm still sick), and a stop at whole foods (life saving). zach has really hit his stride driving. he can drive 5-8 hour stretches at a time with no problem. pretty amazing. we haven't really been sleeping in the van that much lately cuz we've been rocking out to such good music. sonya got an ipod so on our way to LA, she rocked it for the whole trip. modern english, the pretenders, siouxie and banshees, the who, pavement, and lots of other rad 80's stuff. it was a van party. then yesterday it was all about the wings box set with pat doing interpretive hand dances in the copilot seat. my sides hurt from laughing. and my throat still hurts from being kinda sick. not fully sick, but enough so that i wake up every morning feeling sick again and then by the end of the day i'm better. this had better end soon. we have some serious rocking to do. tonight we play with the album leaf @ modified in phoenix and then we drive to tulsa to start our 4 dates with guster. then on to dallas (my first time ever playing in dallas in a rock band since high school), houston, and finishing in austin. we're playing with guster the same night the shins are making up the rained out date we missed with them in june. so we can hopefully hightail it from austin music hall over to stubbs after we play to see them. or at least hang with them after. then we head back and hang out (try to find work) until the helio sequence tour which starts in october. it takes us cross country to nyc for cmj, then we store our van, fly to amsterdam and play dates in europe for 8 days, ending in london. fly back, and tour back to the west coast where it looks like we have a show with death cab for cutie in reno on november 7th. then who knows what. crazy times for me. its been freaky not working i must say. i will find stuff to occupy my time somehow. maybe i'll be an elf @ macy's or something. or find a catering gig. i don't know. today we are going to chill and hang by the pool until its time to go to the show. we soundcheck and then there is a film festival from 7 to 8:30, then us, then the album leaf. rock! its going to be an awesome night. yes. signing off from the dry heat. love, gg

i'm sick

i guess i knew this would happen one day. i'd be sick and have to get in the van tomorrow morning. oh well. better to get it out of the way now. i kinda think i made myself sick. for some reason, not having a job and being home for just a week got me all stressed out. i am feeling much better mentally now since i hung with the band this afternoon, but still throat hurty. darn. i can't imagine writing a ton about the last tour like i thought i would do this week. i will try to be better blogger in future. for now, i will leave you with this image, me and james mercer beating ikari warriors backstage in norfolk, VA: