I’m writing from my parents’ kitchen in Burlington, Vermont, looking out over a beautifully crisp fall morning on Lake Champlain. This first leg of touring with The Presets is over! Some observations on The Presets:

- Kim and Jules are two of the nicest, hardest-working, most well-grounded, politest, and most personable guys I’ve had the pleasure to meet.
- Their live show kicks ASS!

We go back out as main US and Canada support for The Rapture, starting 25 OCT. I’m taking the time until then off, to relax with my family and my favorite singer/songwriter.

Hi! I’m back.

Burning Man was amazing. I got there a little uncentered, and so felt the need to put myself through a sort of spiritual boot camp. I did two to five hours of yoga and meditation a day for the entire week – problem solved! The art was amazing, per usual, but the highlight was definitely having the chance to take time to focus on myself. I needed it. And now I’m back, optimized, and hitting the ground sprinting!

I’m writing this from Montreal, where I’m starting my next tour with The Presets. My itinerary is here – I hope some of you can make it out and say hi!

I’m in Reno, at a little breakfast place called Deux Grand Nez. In two hours from this post, I’ll be off the grid for the next week! Send good thoughts my way, and take care of Shannon, and I’ll see you on the other side :-)

My friend Aaron celebrated the 10th anniversary last night of Popscene. The special musical guest was … The Killers! Seeing a band of that caliber in a 400-person club was pretty great. The energy was amazing!

Popsceene is a hell of a fun time. Congratulations, Aaron!

The talented and lovely Shannon Curtis and I shacked up this weekend and did a marathon home recording session! I built out a little mobile recording setup with an MXL tube microphone and a MOTU Ultralite, and we did three new tracks right in my laptop.

They came out amazing! Shannon will be rotating these new recordings through her MySpace site. They’re called Rainy Day Lover, Leave You Behind, and Everyone I’ve Ever Loved. Go check it out!

Shannon’s driving me to LAX in a few minutes, and I’m headed back to SF. I have three and a half days to advance the first week of the Presets tour, pack for tour, shop for Burning Man, pack for Burning Man, and catch up with my friends. No problem! Heh.

My next gig is official – I’ll be working for The Presets! It should be a load of fun. I haven’t met the band, but I have it on reasonable authority that we should get along well. Their manager, Will, has been super so far, and that’s easily 50% of the equation, I’ve learned :-)

There are two tours, actually. Both are North American. The first is from 03 SEP through 27 SEP, and is a club tour. It kind of bounces around, so we’ll be flying to roughly a third of the dates, which should be tiring but still way better than driving. Then apparently there’s another tour as the main support for The Rapture, which starts 27 OCT. Assuming the first tour works out well for everyone involved, we’ll carry the relationship forward to the second tour. As Roger Riedlbauer would say, fair enough!

I’ve been in L.A. with Shannon for the last ten days or so. We’re getting used to it, a little bit! She played her first open mic down here tonight – it sucked, but Kelly Clarkson was there. So that was strange, in a good way.

Secret Agent Audio Services is on vacation! I’m taking off the entire month of August. I’m helping Shannon move to L.A., and then spending as much time there with her as possible. I’ll also be producing some tracks for my dear friend Laura’s band. And of course I’ll be going to Burning Man, wih my awesome theme camp.

In other news, Shannon and I had this chat this morning, which made me laugh and laugh:

me: haha!
lol!!!11111oneoneone
shannon: what? (oneoneone????)
me: hahaha!
that’s l33tspeak.
(“elite speak”)
shannon: oh, you have to translate. i’m so not elite
me: hacker shorthand
“lol” = laughing out loud
shannon: i know! but i don’t understand it…
me: you know that, probably
shannon: yes, i know “lol”
me: ok.
then there are exclamation points.
!!!!!
shannon: yes…
me: but sometimes, your finger lets go of the shift key too early, and it makes a 1
shannon: yeah, i did that earlier today in fact
me: you actually did this at the beginning of our chat, above.
[smile]
shannon: haha!
me: a “1″ can also be written as “one”
shannon: yes……..
me: so then you get the perfectly logical progression LOL!!!!11111oneoneone
shannon: um, i hate to say it, but….. how is ‘oneoneone’ SHORT for any of the above?
seems longer to me…….
me: well, that’s not the point.
it’s code
the point is to obfuscate, not to make easier [smile]
shannon: oh. code. -elite- code.
me: now do u f33l l!k3 m0re of a l33t h@x0r?
shannon: oh, heck yes. i am definitely more of an elite hacker.
me: sweet.

Last week we played at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts. Julie heard a patron say on the way out, “Never have I heard someone play three instruments so badly.”

Thanks, museum patron!

Hi! I’m currently in the midddle of a seven-week North American tour with Jolie Holland. It’s a great experience so far. Our touring party couldn’t be nicer people. Jolie’s mom is on the road with us, selling merch! This is a first for me, and a very positive one at that.

The tour itinerary is at Jolie’s mySpace page.

So after three-plus continuous months of touring, I have reached the end of my current round of commitments! I’ve been across the Atlantic once, around the entire US twice, around the East four times, around the Midwest twice, through the South half a time, and I’ve lived in Austin, Texas for a week.

And now I’m in Vermont, taking a few days’ relaxation time with my family. On Tuesday I fly to Brooklyn to hang out for a night, and then on Wednesday I head to Vieques, Puerto Rico for Alexei and Amy’s wedding(!!).

I’ve rented myself a private villa on the ocean, and I’ve rented a bicycle, and I’m bringing a wireless router and a stack of books. Oh, and my best friend is getting married. So I should have plenty to do.

I fully intend to take the next month off, with a couple of notable exceptions. I’ll be mixing Nada Surf at a private show in New Jersey (am I allowed even to mention that? Hm. Well, fuck it – I’m honored they asked, and I’m going to brag about it unless and until they ask that I not). And, I’ll be mixing Every Move A Picture on the main stage at Shoreline, for BFD, on June 10th. Definitely my first time mixing in a venue that big – it’s going to be a blast!

And then the summer touring season begins … :-)