Both of the City Center shows in Michigan were off the chain amazing. Very very many thanks to Dion & The UFO Factory, Windy & Hitoko, Silverghost, Actual Birds, Jeffery Lewis, Annie Palmer, Eliza and Shelley for coming along with me to both shows, MC5 Bob for ruling, all the friendly faces who came out and just everybody in general. The exponential growth from one show to the next was pretty great to feel. I don't know how I managed to see so many old friends and not take a single picture... oh wait, I was supremely drunk for the duration of both shows due to nervous blather! That'll do it.
This weekend there's a huge music festival in the upper peninsula of Michigan called Keweenawesome Fest. Not sure if this is the second, third or fourth annual one, but I am super stoked to be playing a solo set as part of the jams. From the flyer above, you can see that a ton of Michigan and other-placed homies are playing, and everyone tells me it's the best vibe in the universe. If you live anywhere near Houghton Michigan I hope to see you there.This last week or so in Michigan has been sick productive. I totally went to the dentist today for the first time in six years, and despite my tooth-loss last year, I only had a couple cavities. No dentures for old man Thomas just yet! Then I did a panel discussion at the Ann Arbor Teen Center called the Neutral Zone on the merits of manufacturing and distributing your music without the help on major labels. It was awesome! Me and a couple other older Ann Arbor music folks talked to a bunch of aspiring teenage musicians about our experiences with making our music happen for ourselves over the years. So positive. AAAAANNNNDDD apart from playing a ton of rad shows, finally finishing the City Center 7" and the Everyone CD, me and Ryan have also been jamming constantly, I finished some new SLGTM songs and, and, and, and...
Especially for the Keweenawesome Fest, I recorded a new album. Over the years my idea about songwriting is that a song is never totally finished, and every time you play a song it's something new, not something that just stays in a static place. I've often gone back and listened to super old recordings and had them make so much sense years after their inception. Since I started playing solo shows, I've been endlessly making new songs, often on super shitty recording equipment or in a rushed, weird fashion cause that's just how I've been rolling. So for this new CD, I re-recorded 8 older songs from the last seven years that I always thought could have been better or maybe just got pushed out too soon. I also recorded a Silver Jews cover, cause I woke up one morning with it rushing through my head. I made them for the show on Saturday, but I imagine I'll have some extra copies. Drop me a line if you want one.
Fred Thomas
"Old News"
Edition of 100 copies.
1.Summer Of OMD
2.Our Fair City And It's Field Of Vision
3.Last One To Leave
4.Roco
5.Throw Me A Line
6.Brookl
7.Living Waters (Download here.)
8.When You Fuck Things Up With Your Baby
9.The Dancefloor Dreams
Total Running Time: 24min 58sec
Back in New York on Monday. Ready for the rattledown rumble rush, but also sad that this weird elongated tour is coming to a close.
7 comments:
naw, we dont want one. not our kind of thing.
happy opposite day.
lexington love!
bwahahahahaha.... you have a supreme care package on the way as soon as i get back to new york. more micro releases than anyone could really want, and maybe some pictures i found on the street for good measure..
oh, i never got the scarlet fever, by the way. just an increasing smoker's cough and a wanderer's inqusitive smile formation..
love right back to you
the silver jews cover sounds great. i was just listening to that song a few days ago and thinking about how fun it would be to cover, but you beat me to it.
i'd love to hear the rest of those re-worked jams but i probably can't make it to houghton. are you dropping any off at encore? if not can i get one in the mail?
thanks fred,
--logan
Fred, you are Keweenawesome. Your set was one of the top I've seen you play and just listened to the disc last night and it was kind of mind-blowing. See you back on this coast soon; you're the best.
B/Z/
Hey. I'd love to get a copy of this if you've got spare. "Living Waters" sounds great.
Tim.
Fred,
i'd love to get a copy of that if you have a few more lying around! please jot me an email if you have the time.
greenj18@msu.edu
save a copy for me, fred!
- ben (you aren't my mother)
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